Why We Live
by DarkFeenux
Summary: ITS BACK AND RELOADED! Vegeta was raised on Earth as a normal boy. Now, in the darkness and isolation of space, Vegeta and Chester must figure out how to live as Frieza captures them and unleashes a world of horrors the duo.
1. Prologue

_Disclaimer: I do not own anything of Dragonball Z, nor any of the songs mentioned in the story, etc. But I do own the OC(s) in this story, and the awesome plotline which came from an amazing dream I had. This disclaimer will count for the entire story (yes, i am _that _lazy)

* * *

_

_**Prologue: Jesus of Suburbia**_

The duo ran southward towards the highway, their only escape route. The snow covered brush they ran through became stained with any blood they had left in them. The faster of the two made a pathway for the other to follow by, knowing he was too weak and tired, and may collapse at any minute. The first looked back at the other, noting how he had a very obvious limp and clutched his bloodied arm.

"You have to keep going, Ches! We're only a few yards away!" the first yelled back. The blonde man, named Chester, shook his head and fell to his knees. The first cursed under his breath and made his way back to his fallen friend. 

By the time he arrived, Chester was on all fours breathing heavily. "This is going to kill me," he heaved, "Vegeta, just go. They're after you, not me." With that said, Chester began to cough up blood and the snow became a dark crimson, only seen as black in the darkness. Vegeta dropped to his knees beside him, with his own blood starting to leave its mark as well. _Shit,_ Vegeta thought,_ he can't go any further, and I'm in no shape to carry someone._ He stared at Chester's heaving, and then turned to the sky for help. The stars, shimmering with undying light, began to fade behind a cloud filled with snow, making Vegeta feel like they had nothing left for their journey. He sat there for a few moments and tried not to think about what may happen to them. In the background, with his acute hearing he heard sirens and the growling of animals come their way. Clenching his eyes and fists, he tried to remember when his life wasn't as complicated; when Chester became involved, everything had changed.

_Years earlier..._

A younger image of Vegeta, no more than 14, stared out his foster parents' car window. He watched the rain trail down and to the back with the direction of the wind, and traced a drop's path with his finger. Vegeta was new to a life without his parents, and from leaving a city he had been living in as long as he can remember. They had unfortunately died in a freak accident when he wasn't home, and with no other relatives he was thrown across the country.

He began to focus on the scenery outside the car instead of the water, and saw he was in the residential streets of his new town. His foster parents had driven out to Cincinnati to pick him up, claiming it would be fun to have their first encounter as a road trip. Vegeta was just glad he would finally have some time to himself. They had (thankfully) been smart enough to know Vegeta would want some space to himself, so they had brought down a motor home. As it had pulled up to the agency, he had a feeling of dread in his stomach, not from the fact that he was leaving, but from the knowledge that he may have to spend some 'quality time' with these strangers. He had to, like many times before, suck up his pride and deal with the situation he was in as much as he despised it. That doesn't mean he'll act like he enjoys it, nor is it a promise for no rebellion in the near future. With a plan to show these people who he really was, he decided not to cause a fuss while they were trapped on an RV for a week or less.

His big headphones from his CD player had kept him sane for the trip, and he was able to block out the incessant chattering that he had learned his 'parents' loved to do. His attention was again redirected as his 'mother' tapped him on the shoulder and he had to leave his realm of Guns N Roses for a brief period.

"We're almost home, Veggie!" she said sweetly to him. Vegeta's eye twitched from the new nickname he had been bestowed during the trip, and answered her by placing his headphones back on his head. _No shit, once the car is parked in a driveway I think I'll know that I'm 'home'_ Vegeta thought. He returned to tracing the water lines on his window which had begun to decrease. Vegeta had planned earlier to take a walk around to learn of the people and what the town had to offer.

The RV had finally pulled to a stop outside an older house with a white picket fence. Vegeta felt his stomach drop again when he realized how much worse this could be. Looking around, he noticed how the other houses were the same as this one. "I'm the devil in suburbia," he muttered.

* * *

_This is only the prologue of the story. The beginning will be explained once it comes to that part in the story, as well as Chester's role in the story. Unfortunately I am nearing my midterms in high school, so I may not post as often as you wish. I may get another out by the end of next week, but don't hold me to that. I like to think through my chapters and the development of the story, so I will take my time with that. Until next time, ciao._


	2. Kill Tomorrow

_**Chapter 1: Kill Tomorrow**_

That evening, after Vegeta had placed his belongings in the area which they were to go, he jumped out his window onto the tree that was conveniently right outside. Making sure he was not seen, Vegeta dropped on the front lawn and jogged away from the house. Once he was a safe distance away, he pulled up the hood on his navy sweater (a little difficult to do as his dark hair was spiked about a foot in the air) and shoved his hands into the front pouch. It was in mid-spring, so he was warmed by the sweater but was still kept cool from wearing camouflage boarder shorts.

Once he reached the end of the street, he passed giant gates leading back into the sub-division. Making a mental note that they were how he was to get back 'home', he continued towards the main streets of the city. The sun was beginning to touch the horizon, but it didn't faze him at all. In his home town, Vegeta was always out late and was used to traveling alone at night. His parents didn't mind too much, as long as he was home and hadn't gotten into too much trouble. Vegeta thought back to his easy going life since his parents did not give him many restrictions. _'Better to learn from experience,'_ they had always told him. He doubted this couple would give him limited boundaries, but that wouldn't stop him.

As he neared the center of downtown, familiar noises and odours began to fill his senses. More than once, he was tempted to meet anyone in the back-alleys, but had to remind himself that he was an observer tonight and not to get involved in anything this soon.

As he passed one alleyway though, commotion inside a shadowed path caught his attention. There was a circle of three or four thugs around someone he couldn't see, but could tell that they were not planning on letting the person go. Vegeta gave the scene one last glance and continued to walk past it, seeing many hassles like that in the past.

A whimper from inside and a flicker of silver captured Vegeta's interest once again. He stopped and looked back at the corner of the alley and could see one of the thugs had a little dagger, and saw the figure inside the circle. He was around Vegeta's age, give or take a year, and looked like he had been through a few fights that day. The boy was forced onto his knees from a blow one of the thugs gave him, and became more visible through the bully's legs. He looked up and spotted Vegeta at the edge of the alley and gave him a pleading look. He couldn't see who Vegeta was by the shadow his hood cast on his face, but Vegeta was able to see every bruise on his face and his vibrant grey eyes.

Vegeta's first instinct was to turn and continue walking, but as soon as the boy looked at him he felt he had to help. Giving a sigh, he fazed to behind the bullies and tapped one on the shoulder. As he turned around, Vegeta pulled his fist back and planted it directly onto the guy's face. He reeled back from the blow, but his counterparts launched themselves at Vegeta and had forgotten about the boy they were just bullying.

Vegeta easily dodged the thug's pathetic attempts to punch him, and waited until they started to tire out before he attacked. He gave each of them a single punch before they were either knocked out or thrown back and ran away. After assessing that the area was safe, he turned back to the boy who was now pressing himself against the alley wall and giving Vegeta a look of confusion and awe, with a little bit of fear. "H-how did you do that?" he managed to say, wiping off a bit on blood on his lips.

The boy began to get up from the ground, using the wall as his balance and never took his eyes off Vegeta's hooded form. Vegeta continued to stare at him, knowing he had witnessed what no one else was allowed to see. He thought for a moment before answering, "Practice. Go home," and he turned to leave the alley.

"Wait, who are you? I haven't seen you around here before," the boy said as he started to follow Vegeta.

Getting annoyed with the boy's questioning, Vegeta quickly faced the boy, causing the boy to almost bump into him but was able to stop a foot away from his face. They were around the same height, but Vegeta's menacing demeanor and hard eyes caused the boy to take a few steps back. "You don't want to be associated with me, boy. Go home." With that, he turned back around and tried to leave again.

But the boy did not back down. In fact, he became braver from Vegeta's words. "Associated with you? You just got lucky back there. I could've taken them on, but... they caught me at a bad time," he replied to the back of Vegeta's head. "And my name's Chester, not boy." 

Vegeta whirled around and growled at him, "Are you looking for another fight tonight, _Chester_? You really don't look like you could handle one."

Chester raised his arms in defense. "Dude, I'm not looking for anything. You're the one that snapped at me when I just wanted to know who sav- had helped me. And it's not everyday you see a guy move at the speed of light."

Vegeta's face softened a little when he saw Chester wasn't trying to cause any harm. He took in more of Chester's appearance where his sweater sleeves had dropped and old, dark marks could be seen. Unfortunately Vegeta couldn't make out what they were from the shadows of the alley. Chester quickly noticed his error and pulled at the sleeves immediately. "Try not to question it; you won't get an answer that you'll understand," Vegeta stated like he had been asked the question before.

"Try me," Chester replied with a raised eyebrow and crossed his arms in front of his chest.

Vegeta chuckled at his spirit. It reminded himself of what he would do if someone was being difficult with him. "Maybe later," he said softly. He started to walk away when Chester asked him one last question.

"Can I at least know who you are?"

Vegeta paused. Without looking at Chester, he replied, "Just call me Vegeta. That is, if we ever meet again." He continued around the corner and was relieved to know that Chester was not following him, and was hopefully heading to his own home.

Looking at the sky, he realized the sun had disappeared completely, and his 'parents' may have tried to check on him. _That took longer than I had expected, _he thought. Vegeta also took notice that he wasn't close to wherever downtown ended and the suburbs began. He only knew of one way to figure out his bearings. Not wanting to have anymore attention tonight, he turned down the closest deserted alleyway and ran straight to a wall. About three feet away he jumped up and placed his foot on the wall to bounce over to the opposite wall. He continued this jump until he reached the building's roof, where he landed like a predator ready to pounce again.

From the rooftop, he was able to locate the gates leading to his house and a path through the city to take him home. About two blocks down the street, he noticed the blonde that he had saved earlier walking towards a few houses to the east. Chester looked around before crossing the street and ran up to what Vegeta assumed was his front door. Once his newfound friend was inside, Vegeta watched his alley and the street it stemmed from until he was sure no one was able to see him. He stepped off the roof and landed with a small thud on the ground.

Vegeta navigated through the streets and shortcuts he had seen on the rooftop until he arrived outside his sub-division's gates. Quickly making his way to his house, Vegeta began to pick up sounds coming from said house, and he pinpointed them to being right outside his door. He leaped through the tree and landed with a thump on his bed. As soon as he had landed, the door banged open to reveal his guardians out of breath and looking slightly shaken.

"Vegeta! We've been knocking on your door for fifteen minutes and you didn't answer; we thought you could've been hurt or something!" his 'father' said to him while leaning on the doorframe. His 'mother' stood behind the man clutching her hands to her chest in relief.

He gave a short laugh and with a shrug replied, "Sorry, I'm a heavy sleeper."

* * *

_And they finally meet. I know I said this would be out next week, but I felt a creative streak and decided to post it now while my brother and fellow FF author had taken over the MSN and Diablo computer... so enjoy! (FYI, my brother is Mr. Light Chicken Bulbs and mainly writes comedies if you're interested.)_


	3. Animal I Have Become

**_Chapter 2: Animal I Have Become_**

_Five months later..._

Vegeta had hardly been fitting in with others in this new town. During the first week at school, he had scared almost everyone off by destroying a picnic table out of anger from his foster parents. His 'inhuman' strength had started many rumours that varied from he was an escaped science experiment to an alien from a distant planet. His newfound friend Chester was very curious of Vegeta's abilities, but Vegeta never said a word to him until he was sure he could trust him. Even then, he would just tell him that his real father taught him how to control and increase his strength faster than an average human. Chester was skeptical of his explanation, but he knew Vegeta wouldn't tell him anything if he really didn't want to. 

Other than that, Vegeta did not fit very well into the crowds in the school. Not that he really wanted to make friends; he had more enemies than all others his age already, and those were mainly because he scared them with his darkened thoughts.

He sat against a shady school wall drawing random figures in his notebook. At least he believed they were random. Chester leaned against the wall beside him, gazed at his sketches and raised an eyebrow. "Those seem a wee bit... violent. Are you sure you're not a psychopath?" he asked. Vegeta chuckled at Chester's inside joke and continued his drawings. Over the last few months, Chester had adopted the theory that Vegeta was insane, multi-personality psychopath who passed off as a 14 year old boy. It was a little far-fetched, but Vegeta was happy that he knew someone to joke around with.

The sound of a feminine laughter caused him to look up and stare at a blue-haired enchantress. Chester followed his gaze and smiled. "So Bulma caught your attention, Veg? I wouldn't try it, she's taken."

"I know. He could be eliminated easily," Vegeta mumbled. His eyes never left the girl until she and her friends disappeared inside the high school.

"So now you act, draw and sound like a psychopath," Chester said. After a few seconds, he added, "And your hair is very odd."

Vegeta paused from collecting up his belongings and stared at the blonde. "Why must you torment me? Just because I saved your life doesn't mean you have to follow me around."

"From what I've learned of you the last few months, you need someone like me to keep your sanity in check," Chester replied. Vegeta glared at Chester, and started to make his way off the school property. "Wait, Vegeta, where are you going? There's still like 3 periods left."

Without turning around, Vegeta replied, "Meh. I don't feel like sitting through 3 unneeded classes."

-----

Hours later, Vegeta stormed out of the building he has begun to call home, giving off an enormous vibe of anger and loathing. He wasn't much of a social person to begin with, but with his foster parents trying to get him to spend quality time with them and cutting off his alone time, he couldn't take their interference anymore. _First they move me to some weird-ass place, and then they try to change my routine? I don't think so!_ It may not have helped that the school was starting to track him down for his 'absences', which was taking away more of his roaming time.

Every night since he arrived, Vegeta had made a habitual visit through the streets at night, mainly to find places to run to, should he ever need them, he told himself. It had almost become an obsession; he needed to go for his nightly walk before he could even think of going to sleep. Usually he couldn't leave until very late, or early in the morning, as his 'parents' made many visits to his room whenever they got up to go to the washroom or for a midnight snack. The lack of sleep began to give Vegeta a gaunt look, making him even more menacing, and in the last few days even Chester became wary of him.

Tonight, he felt he was out for blood. He had been pissed off so many times during the week that he needed something, or someone, to pound his frustration out on. Vegeta had observed that many people around here, mainly the guys, had a desire to fight. He smirked while walking down his well-known route, waiting for anyone who may have acquired this same craving for a good battle. His muscles had begun to look very intimidating, and his reputation had increased greatly as one that was not to be messed with. His speedy abilities and heightened senses may have given him an upper hand in fights, but he wasn't about to let anyone know that. Chester had stumbled upon it by mistake, and he had made sure the fair-haired man never said a word of it to anyone.

Vegeta was stirred out of his vengeful thoughts by someone bumping very forcefully into him. He stopped and turned to face who thought they had the right to even be in his presence with a snarl on his face. The scowl disappeared quickly when he noticed the girl attached to the man's arm was none other than his adored Bulma, laughing and not even paying attention to who her beau had walked in to. He knew that the man, Yamcha, was too much out of his league to keep Bulma, and yet he couldn't understand why she stayed with him. Apparently they had been together for the entire year, when dating was finally upgraded from little playground dates at recess to time after school together.

He became enraged once again knowing Bulma could never be his with that loser around, and began to form a plan in order to remove him from the situation. Though he did not use this talent in school, Vegeta was actually very smart and quick thinking.

Observing the couple walking down the street, Vegeta pulled up the hood on his sweater (as the nights became a little chilly) and followed the two from a very safe distance, maybe 30 feet away. Even though he was so far, he was still able to see the small movement of Yamcha's hand rubbing up and down Bulma's spine which caused Vegeta to emit a small growl.

When they began to walk down a more urban area, Vegeta stuck to the shadows between houses as the crowd had also died down to nothing. He started hopping fences, never losing sight of the two. Once they seemed to reach Bulma's house, Vegeta had to watch with gritted teeth as they gave their goodnight kisses, and the brunette entered her house. He watched with sinister eyes as Yamcha made his way back to the city's center, and right where Vegeta wanted him to be.

It was about 20 minutes before Vegeta was able to intimidate Yamcha's awareness and coerce him to walk subconsciously to a not-so-busy area. Vegeta sneered down from a rooftop and watched the other male become more paranoid and fearful with every step. He quietly stepped off the roof and dropped on the pavement of the pathway.

It took Yamcha a few seconds before he noticed the spiky haired male a few feet behind him. He turned around and gave a small flinch when he saw Vegeta staring at him with no expression. He gave a small laugh and said, "You're that Vegeta guy, right? Phew, I thought for a second a mass murderer or something was behind me."

Yamcha's chuckle died when he noticed Vegeta's ominous demeanor, his face slightly concealed by the shadows. He took an uncertain step backwards as Vegeta continued to stare him down. "You have something I want," Vegeta finally hissed.

The other male frowned, obviously confused. Vegeta elaborated, "Break up with her, or this gets ugly."

This statement caused Yamcha to smile once again, which soon turned into a full laugh. "Yeah, I'll do that just for you," he managed to say between gasps for air. He turned his back on Vegeta, not threatened by him anymore, and intended to continue his detour home. He was forced to stop as Vegeta's hand on his shoulder pulled him back and threw him into the nearest brick wall. Vegeta placed his hands on both sides of Yamcha's head, locking him in place, and growled in his face.

"Back off, you freak!" Yamcha yelled in his attacker's face. He pushed Vegeta away, but didn't even move the other boy, so in fright he pulled down Vegeta's hood and tried clawing at his face to get free. He struggled to get out of Vegeta's restraint, but the latter still didn't even budge. As his struggles ceased, Vegeta gave him a dark smile and punched his stomach. He tilted slightly and let Yamcha fall to the ground, and to avoid any spit from contacting his clothing. Before Yamcha's knees could even connect with the ground, Vegeta had already landed a roundhouse kick on his face and caused him to fly into a large garbage container, denting the metal.

Vegeta waltzed up to the fallen man spitting out a bit of blood from the kick. He crawled out of his indent and stood to face Vegeta, but changed his mind and started to sprint away from the madman. Vegeta rolled his eyes and easily fazed in front of Yamcha. He delivered another punch to his face and his grin widened when he heard a sickening crunch of bone breaking. Yamcha cried out in pain and held his face, blood slowly pouring between his fingers.

"What's your answer now?" Vegeta asked him, relishing the feeling of overpowering the man.

Yamcha looked to Vegeta through his hands and cried, "You're insane." Faster than the assaulted could see, Vegeta was standing over him from behind and grabbed his arm. Vegeta twisted it back and pulled the arm across his back, holding Yamcha's jaw shut with his other hand. "Wrong answer," he said in a dark tone. Yamcha tried to scream, but it only came out as a muffled cry from Vegeta's grip.

Vegeta realized his Vegtim's screams may bring unwanted attention, and tried to dislocate his jaw by twisting his hand that held the jaw. He heard another crunch and Yamcha inhale deeply. Vegeta let go of his arm and watched it fall like dead weight to the ground, and switched his other hand to gripping Yamcha's hair. Noticing he wasn't even moaning, Vegeta glanced at his face and put a hand on his neck, trying to find his pulse. Instead of finding a steady beat pulsating from his throat, he felt a huge bump sticking out of the side of his neck and realized that wasn't his jaw cracking but his neck. "Dammit," he said, sounding like a child that just broke his favourite toy.

He dropped Yamcha's corpse on the ground and did a quick scan around the area to see if anyone was drawn to his earlier cries, or any video surveillance. Seeing no one, he stared at the body and wondered how to destroy it. After a few moments of formulating another plan, he picked up the dead weight and threw it in the dumpster that had Yamcha's imprint in it. Ripping through a few trash bags, he found a packet of matches and lit all the remainders, throwing them back on Yamcha. Vegeta jumped off the side of the bin as it set ablaze and gazed on the quickly building fire.

Vegeta pulled his hood up again and started to speed-walk away from the crime scene. "Well that was too easy," he mumbled, "I was at least hoping he lasted for a while longer."

Once a safe distance away, he heard the sirens of fire trucks and gave a small smile at his handy-work. He was able to get home in record time, and when he was inside he assessed the damage to his clothing, noting there wasn't even a dot of blood on them. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught his reflection in a nearby mirror and was surprised to see a small line of blood. He looked more closely and realized it may have been from when the newly deceased tried to get away from him.

"He actually scratched me," he said in amazement while wiping away the blood. He then chuckled and said to himself, "At least he's already safe from that little maneuver."

Stripping from his dirty clothes, he threw them in the hamper as they smelled like garbage from the bin. He flopped on to his bed and let out a sigh. A few minutes later, Vegeta was fast asleep with a smile on his face, his bloodlust quenched for the night.

* * *

_Tada! Another chapter out... oh by the way, this will not be a Bulma/Vegeta romance, but it may be included in small parts (not the main plot of the story of course) as I think they make an awesome couple. And sorry to all the Yamcha lovers, but he was the easiest to kill off from Vegeta's point of view. Anyways, until the next chapter, enjoy!_

_Cir: A little dark, but who am I to complain._

_Fee: But the darkness is awesome..._


	4. Down With The Sickness

_Important note: I was hoping that I would get critiqued by readers a little bit more than what I have without having to ask. So please let me know of the good and the bad comments that my story may bring to your minds, and thanks to those who have already put in their input. Here's chapter trois:_

**_

* * *

_**

Chapter 3: Down With The Sickness

The next morning, Vegeta barely woke from his land of slumber early enough to go to school. Since his foster parents had already left for work, he decided not to go until he felt he was fully awake, maybe about 3 or 4 hours later. After 2 or so hours of his prolonged sleep, a bang at the door caused him to jump back to consciousness. He was planning to let them believe no one was home, but the consistency caused him to get out of the warmth of the covers with a few curses. 

The opened door revealed Chester standing on the doorstep with a little grin on his face. "Hey, I didn't see you today so I wanted to know if you're okay," he replied to Vegeta's stare. Vegeta continued to gape at him for a few seconds then shut the door in Chester's face. 

Vegeta started to ascend the stairs when Chester re-opened the door. As he stepped in, he said, "I guess I woke you, but still that was pretty rude, Veg. Hell, you may have been dead or something."

Chester moved around on the living room couch to find a comfortable position when Vegeta turned to watch him. "What do you think you're doing?" he muttered groggily.

"I don't really feel like going to math or bio, so I've decided to hang out with you for a bit." He looked over the couch and gave Vegeta a smirk. "But since you're still sleepy, I'll entertain myself with the TV and PS2."

"And you plan on getting away with this how?"

"Well, it's very easy to fake sick," replied Chester with a snicker.

"That's the spirit," Vegeta said half-heartily.

The blonde turned back to the TV and started to flip through the channels, knowing Vegeta wouldn't really care if he was there or not. Vegeta continued his journey up the stairs to get some much needed sleep. "What's your plan?"

As he ascended, Vegeta answered, "It's an infectious virus."

A few more hours later, Vegeta finally woke without any interruptions. Still very reluctant to get up, he only rose when his growling stomach reminded him that he hadn't eaten anything since last night's dinner. Downstairs, Chester was still lounging on the couch, very caught up in the racing game he was playing. He barely noticed Vegeta enter the room, and only acknowledged his presence when Vegeta slammed the cabinet door.

"Have a nice sleep?" he said without glancing from the screen. Vegeta only grunted and sat on the chair across from Chester with a box of cereal in his hands. He began eating from the box and watched his friend lose horribly. Chester finally became frustrated enough to turn off the game and find some food of his own.

Vegeta took over the TV and paused momentarily on an afternoon news program. He paused on his munching when he heard the top story for the day _"...Police discovered the body early this morning after a fire was put out on a back-alley dumpster. A wallet found nearby and the school logo on his sweater determined that the victim was Yamcha Mortiz, but cause of death and a suspect are still to be found…"_ During the announcement, Chester had made his way back to the couch but paused when Yamcha's name was said. "Whoa, I knew that guy in like, elementary school," he muttered mostly to himself.

When Chester glanced at him, Vegeta had to quickly wipe the devious smirk forming on his lips. Chester, oblivious to Vegeta's actions last night, asked, "Do you know him?"

After a few seconds to think, Vegeta replied, "Vaguely."

Chester nodded slightly and said, "He was Bulma's boyfriend. Heh, you'd probably remember that."

With a small smirk Vegeta mumbled, "So she's free now," though already knowing hours before anyone else that she was. Chester's jaw went slightly slack when he overheard the other man. "Dude, he just died! Give it some time at least."

"Sucks to be him," Vegeta said in a low tone as he changed the channel, signaling the end of the discussion.

-----

Vegeta had neglected a weeks worth of night walks as the police had been investigating the entire time, but he couldn't take staying indoors any longer. Before leaving, he checked his reflection and noticed the scratch on his cheek had healed very nicely, without a mark left. A few nights worth of sleep was shown as he didn't look so gauntly anymore, but there was something different in the mirror. He couldn't pinpoint why he looked different, maybe the moonlight gave his eyes a different gleam. Vegeta shrugged it off and took his usual route out the window and through the gates of his sub-division.

Happy to be outside and not paying attention to anything besides the fresh night air, Vegeta didn't realize that his feet had lead him to Chester's street instead of downtown. Even though Chester had never told him where it was or invited him over, he remembered the house from the night he met Chester.

Since the house was a bungalow, Vegeta was able to creep up to it quite easily, but not too close to it. Using the trees as his shadows, he glanced into the windows to try and find his friend. After hearing a door slam, he quickly made his way to the source of the sound and found Chester storming around his room, cursing to the walls. He noticed for once that Chester didn't have a shirt with sleeves on (even through the summer he wore long sleeves or just stayed inside) and was finally able to get a look at what Chester had been trying to hide.

Trailing up and around his left arm, from mid forearm to the underside of his bicep was an indentation about an inch thick at the biggest part, like a scar of a blade mark. There were a few little indents around his hands as well, but with the blonde freaking out, Vegeta couldn't really get a good look at them. Chester finally decided to calm down a bit and took a seat of his bed, back to Vegeta. He propped his arms on his knees and ran his hands through his hair. Vegeta caught little glimpses of more marks on his back from the movement of his tank top. He noticed from Chester's heavy breathing that he was most likely furious beyond reason, and Vegeta took this as the time to walk silently up to the window and give the glass a small knock.

Chester jumped as he spun around, meeting Vegeta's gaze with one of fright. Almost immediately he leaped up and opened the window. "What are you doing here?" he hissed.

Vegeta shrugged. "I was in the neighbourhood," he said carelessly, "So those are what you've been hiding from me, eh?"

He had to suppress a grin as he watched the blonde pale in front of him. Chester looked away and slowly put on a nearby sweater and mumbled, "Its nothing." He took a glance at the clock hanging on the wall. "Vegeta, its 12:40! Why are you taking a walk so late?"

Again, the man in question shrugged and asked, "Want to join me?"

Chester seemed to think about his offer for a minute, then replied, "Sure, why not." He locked his door and shut off the lights before hopping out of the window to join Vegeta. The duo started to wander down the street.

After a few minutes of listening to the city at night, Vegeta glanced at his friend to notice he was still looking at the ground, and seemed to be in a trance. He decided to break the trance and the silence, "You know, you don't have to hide anything from me, Chester. Hey, maybe I could help you somehow."

Chester let out a small laugh. "Maybe you could. I've heard of stranger things happening." He looked around to notice that they had walked into an abandoned warehouse district. "Wow, in all my years of living here, I never knew that we had warehouses, let alone abandoned ones," he pondered.

" Chester..."

"Right, sorry." He took a seat on a huge cinder block and pulled his sweater jacket closer to his body. Chester began his little story almost immediately after Vegeta tentatively sat next to him. "One of my many step-fathers was a complete psycho. He… he's been in and out of relationships with my mom since I was about 7 years old. She trusted him enough to be left alone with me, and at the time I-I trusted him too. He had a totally different front around her that what he really was. If the television wasn't working, o-or he was generally pissed off at something, he'd take it out on me. Heh, why not take it out on the kid that you probably don't want around anyways." Near the end of his recollection, Chester shot out of his seat and started to pace in front of his friend.

Vegeta watched the older boy, but his mind was on something different. In all of his 14, nearly 15, years of life, his parents, both biological and foster, had treated him very well. Hell, his father had taken time out of his already busy work schedule to spend time with Vegeta and teach him to control his strength. He had been punched a few times, but that was sparring and not actual abuse. Vegeta knew from the last few months of spending time with Chester that he was a good kid, and an amazing friend to have. How could something like this be presented on an innocent soul?

The dark-haired boy was broken out of his thoughts by an almost inaudible sob from Chester. It seemed he had a bit more to say. "The prick had the audacity to call _my_ house tonight, and tried to talk my mom into a relationship again. I've had enough of him, so I tore the phone from her and hung it up. I mean, I know she doesn't know anything about these... scars, but..." Whispering the last few words, he collapsed beside Vegeta and released a sigh. Vegeta chose to speak up, knowing Chester would only get angrier if he continued his rant.

"Is that why you were mad when I found you?"

Chester nodded his head and placed it in his hands.

The pair sat in silence for a few moments, Chester trying to compose himself and Vegeta deep in thought. He wanted to make the older boy feel a little bit better, like he had pretty much promised before Chester began to speak. An idea popped to mind, one that he couldn't bear to pass up. "What if," he said quietly, "what if I could help you take your vengeance out on him?" He turned to face the blonde. "Would you do it?"

Chester raised his head and stared at Vegeta. He questioned, "What do you mean 'take it out on him?'"

"I mean, take him down. For good." A couple seconds passed before Vegeta asked again, a slight gleam reappearing in his eyes, "Would you do it?"


	5. Unstable

**_Chapter 4: Unstable_**

Grey eyes stared into black, wondering what the darker ones were plotting. Vegeta's eyes shimmered with wickedness, like no matter what Chester's answer was, he was planning to do it anyway. Chester wanted so desperately to have the man out of his life, so he blocked out any thoughts doubting that his friend's unspoken idea was a bad one. "What are you planning, Vegeta?" 

The look of curiosity in Chester's sight was all Vegeta needed to see. He quickly rose with Chester copying his movements, and asked, "Where do you think he'd be at the moment?"

Chester thought for a moment, then answered, "He's at his house. Well, that's where he was when he called like half an hour ago."

"Lead the way."

Chester stared at Vegeta like he had just grown a second head. "You're kidding right?" he questioned, "It's like, 1 in the morning and you're plotting to go harass him? Firstly, he will probably call my mom after we left and I'd get grounded even more than I already am! Secondly, I really don't-"

"Shut up and start walking, Chester," Vegeta interrupted. He knew Chester was beginning to doubt him, and wasn't about to let him back down. Vegeta felt his desire for bloodshed rise up as Chester snapped his mouth shut and started to walk towards the outskirts of town.

As they walked, Vegeta started to wonder just how big Chester's hatred actually was. Would the blonde let him attack the older man, let alone destroy him? Maybe he would just give the guy an ass-kicking since he knew Chester would not leave him alone once they arrived. Yes, he'd land a few hits on the male, and then allow a little time for Chester to have a few rounds. They would then leave with a threat of child abuse so he wouldn't talk, Vegeta would be happy from having a fight and Chester would be able to feel some power over his mutilator. It was the perfect plan.

Within half an hour, the duo was standing in front of a Cape Cod styled house with only the moon beams through the clouds as a light. Vegeta skimmed the surroundings for anything that could reveal their identities, and found the house was pretty much on an isolated street with a forest to the side. Chester nervously glanced from the house to Vegeta, then back at the darkened building. He swallowed the lump forming in his throat and whispered, "What now?"

Vegeta faced Chester after his scouting and replied with a smirk, "We have fun."

He walked up to the windows and motioned for Chester to try the door. As the blonde was reaching for the doorknob, he felt Vegeta's gaze burn into the side of his head. Looking to his friend, he noticed Vegeta had pulled his sleeves over his hands and held them up for Chester to see. "Right, no fingerprints," he mumbled. Wiggling the knob a few times, he wasn't surprised to find it locked. While his hand was still on the knob, he heard a click like someone was unlocking it. Fearing it was his step-father, he backed away as the door opened to reveal Vegeta on the other side.

"You… Arg!" he hissed. Walking past Vegeta's form, he landed a small punch on the dark-haired boy's left shoulder. "You scared the crap out of me," he explained.

Chester stopped dead when he realized that he had been looking at Vegeta two seconds before he heard him unlocking the door. _How does he move so fast?_ He was jolted to movement when Vegeta gave him a little push. "You better not chicken out on me," Vegeta muttered.

The pair wondered through the darkened house with Chester occasionally bumping into a table or two. ("Would you like me to carry you?" Vegeta asked sarcastically, hinting to Chester's klutziness. His response was Chester's middle finger in his direction.) They finally reached the man's sleeping form in his bedroom. Chester looked to Vegeta expectantly, hoping they were not walking into this blind. Vegeta whispered, "Is he a really heavy sleeper?"

Chester recalled the man sleeping over at his house a few times. "An earthquake couldn't wake him," he replied with confidence, "And that I know from experience."

Vegeta nodded. "Well then, you grab his feet while I get the arms." Vegeta moved into the room towards the head rest, but turned back to find Chester still in the doorway. He sighed. "We're taking him out to the woods," he answered the unspoken question.

Thoughts of his step-father waking up in the middle of the forest filled Chester's mind, and he chuckled while moving to the end of the bed, completely unaware of his friend's intentions. Vegeta rolled his eyes as the two heaved the older man out of the house. "Now remember where the tables are, Ches," said Vegeta. Chester glared at the other boy while struggling to hold his step-father up.

Within a few long minutes, the duo was able to drag their victim far into the trees, far enough so neither the house nor the road was visible. Throwing him on the ground, the older man didn't even wake to a tree stump prodding into his back. The dark green t-shirt and plaid pants matched perfectly with the undergrowth. Vegeta could picture the man blending in with the ground completely until he disappeared without a trace.

Shortly after dumping him on the ground, Vegeta exclaimed, "So, do you want to wake him and fight him first, or want me to weaken him a little bit for you?"

Chester looked puzzled from Vegeta's strategy. "That's your plan? To beat him up?" Vegeta nodded. "We're 14, Vegeta! We can't overpower this guy!"

"Maybe you can't, but now you have me around," he said maliciously. Chester inhaled deeply, not knowing whether to call Vegeta crazy or trust him.

Vegeta booted the older man in the stomach causing him to awake with a jerk. He quickly stood up, well as upwards as you can get after being kicked in the gut, and looked around with panic. Once he spotted the boys, his panic subsided.

" Chester, what the hell are you doing up here, and at this hour!" The man reached forward to grab Chester's shirt, but Vegeta swatted his hand away. Chester took half a step back behind Vegeta, knowing he wouldn't get hurt with the other boy in the way.

"Fredrick, meet Vegeta."

His step-father, known as Fredrick, gave a small snicker. Vegeta continued to stare emotionlessly, and after a minute of a staring contest Fredrick looked away. "What are you doing, boy? Get home right now, and bring your friend with you." Fredrick turned to stroll home but was halted from a hook punch to the side of his head. He stumbled, but then reacted with a fist towards Vegeta, who easily dodged it.

The two began to throw more and more hits at each other, but Fredrick's never seemed to land. He backed away a minute later to wipe the blood dripping down his chin. Vegeta cracked his neck by tilting his head to the sides and watched Fredrick's panic-stricken eyes. "What's wrong, not used to them fighting back, Freddy?" Vegeta asked spitefully.

Fredrick growled and lunged at the other fighter. Vegeta quickly pinned him to the ground with a hand on his throat. Chester, who had been watching in a state of shock, noticed the look in Vegeta's eyes and the hand on his neck. "Vegeta, stop!" He leapt to Vegeta's side and easily pried his hand off, only because Vegeta let him.

"Would you like a turn? Because you don't have to be so dramatic over it," Vegeta said as he stood up.

"No, I think he got the point," Chester sighed, "You are pretty freakin' str-" He yelped as he was pulled to the ground by Fredrick. Chester tried to claw away as the older man was pulling his fist into the air. Vegeta reacted instantly with a swipe to his head. Fredrick backed away immediately with a cry of his own. Chester leapt to his feet and exclaimed, "Your hand just glowed, Vegeta! How'd you do that?!"

The pair looked up as Fredrick staggered to his feet with a burn mark implanted on the left side of his face. He was absolutely furious.

"Don't you dare lay another hand on him," Vegeta hissed. Fredrick disregarded Vegeta's threat and attacked. Vegeta concentrated on his right hand again and slowly a blue glow began to form, causing Chester to back away. As the older man neared the two, Vegeta launched his glowing hand forward and landed it on Fredrick's chest.

With a scream, Fredrick landed limply on the ground, the smell of burnt flesh filling the air. Blood started gushing out of his wound, which ended up being twice the size of Vegeta's fist. He started to gargle as the crimson substance climbed out of his mouth and dripped down his face. Within a few moments, he stopped moving altogether.

From his spot across from Vegeta, Chester whispered, "You killed him."

Vegeta was breathing heavily from the energy he released, still wondering how it was even possible. Chester's words registered in his mind, and he knew he needed to destroy the corpse. " Chester, back away please," he said softly. Chester obeyed and took a few steps back, obviously flabbergasted. Vegeta focused on the energy again and set the remains of Fredrick on fire. "Let's go," Vegeta said and started to jog away from the fire, with Chester right behind him.

The duo walked home in silence. "You killed Yamcha too, didn't you?" Chester asked suddenly. Vegeta contemplated whether to lie or not, but decided to tell Chester the truth. Chester nodded as if it somewhat made sense now and continued to walk quietly. Once they came to the fork where their houses lay on other sides, the pair paused for a second.

"Look, Chester, I'll explain everything tomorrow, okay? I just need to sort a few things out myself," Vegeta said quietly. Chester silently agreed and waved good-bye. Vegeta watched him walk for a few minutes, and then uttered, "I really fucked it up this time."

-----

A late news report flicked on the screen and a seated man paused to listen. _"Tonight, another fire was started, only a week after the last arson murder. A body was found on the outskirts of town after fire trucks were called to the scene. There is no confirmation on who it is, or any traces of witnesses."_

The man muted the television and called his partner into the room. "I've found the Saiyan," he said with assurance, "We should tell the Lord of this news."

"Are you sure it's him this time?" the other asked in an Australian accent, recalling the unreliability of his partner's intuition.

"Yes, positive. I can feel it." 

The second man took out his communicator and said, "Inform Frieza that we have located his target and are changing course to get to it." A confirmation was received, the two men started to watch the television again.

* * *

_And the plot thickens... Dun dun daa!!!_


	6. Crawling

_Sorry for the delay, but I've had to do like a LOT of major assignments within the past few weeks, and not much time to write my precious story (tear). Not cool. So here's Crawling:

* * *

_

**_Chapter 5: Crawling_**

Within a few months, Vegeta was able to gain Chester's trust back. After all, the latter did just witness his best friend killing someone who was, although not in a good way, close to him. Chester had resolved to keep silent about Vegeta's inhuman skills, though mainly from the fear that he could be next if he let anything slip. The public had not been able to identify the two vicgtim's killers as the murders were in secluded areas and the evidence was burned away, any trace that may have been left in the forest was burnt by the forest fire Vegeta had unknowingly started. Of course Chester's mother was questioned for being a close relative (as much as he hated to admit it), but they had no knowledge that he had even left the house that night.

Vegeta and Chester were eventually accepted in the school with the start of a new year; well actually the two had taken over Corey's old position and made friends with his old friends.

Today Chester could be seen walking home and laughing with one of his new companions, Kevin, a short man who liked to shave his head often. They soon parted ways as Chester leisurely walked to his house, enjoying the sunshine the day presented him. As he entered his small bungalow, he noticed that the house was much quieter than normal. Not even his evil cat had made a move to attack him, or seemed to be in the house. Brushing the uneasy feeling off, he made himself a 'small' snack of salsa and nacho-y goodness. A sticky note on the refrigerator caught his attention, and he realized that he was home alone until dinner at least as his sister was at her friend's house. This was rewarded with a silent victory gesture.

A sudden knock at the door caused Chester to groan. He was about to go out in his backyard and enjoy his above-ground pool that was rarely used, and intended to steal what was left of summer. After the second more persistent knock, he released his food and answered the unwanted visitor.

The man on the other side was much taller than Chester's stature, his brown eyes piercing into Chester's grey. He was used to such intimidation from Vegeta, so he stared back defiantly. After a few seconds Chester asked, "Can I help you?"

"Yes," the man answered in a thick Australian accent, "I've been informed that you know of someone named Vegeta, recently orphaned?"

"And who would you be?"

The man pulled firmly at his business suit and replied, "I'm with his foster agency. There was a mix up with the papers and we have lost his current address. Do you know where he lives?"

Chester took in the man's powerful aura surrounding him. Something about the male was making him question the safety of himself, and he knew that giving Vegeta's location away would definitely turn out horrible. He feigned thinking and sighed, "No, sorry. I've heard of him but don't know much about him." He started to shut the door when the visitor swiftly held it open. "Dude, I don't know this Vegeta guy," he said harshly and tried to close the door again, but the man held it firmly open.

"Oh but I think you do," he said as he backhanded Chester, who flew into the opposite wall with a gasp. The impact caused the wind to be knocked out of him and he fell to the ground. _What, how, he threw me into a wall from a slap?! Arg where's that devil when you need him..._ he thought dizzily. He faintly heard the door close and looked up to see the attacker leave. Inhaling deeply, Chester raced to the phone, ignoring the pain in his back, and dialed Vegeta's newly acquired cell phone number.

"Hey Veg? I think we have a problem..."

-----

A short time later, Vegeta briskly walked into Chester's house, prepared to tell him off for interrupting his time with Valerie, but was jolted to a stop by the cracked and crumbling wall in front of him. He looked around to locate his friend, and found him lounging on the couch leaning on an ice pack. "So nice of you to join me," Chester exclaimed and ended with a grunt of pain.

"What happened here?" Vegeta questioned.

Chester shifted a bit to get ice on another part of his back. "Some guy came here looking for _you_, was probably stronger than you and threw _me_ into that lovely wall."

"Well if he's gone now-" Vegeta was interrupted again with a rumble and shake of the ground. Once the ground stopped moving, Vegeta walked over to the window and glanced outside. "Oh wow..."

Another rumble caused Chester to jump up and see what Vegeta had seen. Outside, smoke could be seen bellowing up beyond Chester's street. A third boom erupted from the ground, which seemed to be closer than the last two and the duo watched a building collapse. "Those are getting closer to us, Vegeta..."

"Time to go."

The pair moved out of the house, with Chester hunched over, and sped away from the destruction. "Do you think it's the same person as my visitor?" Chester asked after some time, the noises becoming quieter.

Vegeta shrugged. "Maybe he's in league with some other people. Why would they want me though?"

"For one, you've killed two people in the last year. Secondly, you can fire energy balls out of your hands. And-"

"Okay, I get it."

Vegeta became aware of two dots in the sky getting increasing closer to them. At first he thought they were birds, but as the objects flew closer he realized it was people _flying_ not too far overhead. Well, they looked humanoid enough to be people. "Get behind that fence Chester," he said in a low tone. His companion was grateful for the rest. He quickly walked to a fence separating two lots nearby and sat down against it with a sigh. Vegeta, on the other hand, pressed himself against the wood fence and watched the two fly overhead, thankful for the tree and bushes around them.

As they got within Vegeta's earshot, for he learned from experience of high pitched sounds that he had sensitive hearing, he started listening in to the humans.

"… well I think Frieza's going to send that message that he was talking about earlier to the authorities today," the first one said, sounding like he had too much saliva in his undersized mouth.

"Finally! This planet's air is too dirty," replied the second one. "Besides, that Saiyan can't run too far. I doubt he even knows of his abilities yet."

The two shared a laugh as they flew overhead, disrupting the wind enough to blow the duo on the ground back a few feet. The creatures in the air didn't notice the yelp Chester made as Vegeta slammed both of them on the ground. Groaning, mainly from the blonde, the two pulled themselves to their feet. Scanning the air again, Vegeta figured the area was safe enough for the time being to plot their next move. He leaned his head back against the fence, thinking back to what the aliens' had been talking about. _So they are looking for something, but speak of it like something that they made… Saiyan, why does that sound familiar? _he thought. "What is going on here," Vegeta muttered to himself.

"What are you mumbling?" Chester asked him, "You're starting to sound like those ... I don't even know what to call them."

Vegeta frowned. "You didn't hear what they said?"

Chester stared at his friend like he had been talking backwards. "Yea, but it was some guttural language. How would I understand that?" Vegeta focused on the ground, wondering why he could understand the things as if they were speaking English, yet Chester couldn't. He started to rub his temples. _This day is getting so weird_.

A violent crash sounded near them, followed by a slight shockwave, almost making Vegeta and Chester lose their balance again. "What the hell is happening? Is the city under random attack or something?" Chester yelled over the booms of buildings and trees collapsing.

"Not the city, the planet," Vegeta responded. Chester gave him a questioning look. "Don't ask how I know, but they're looking for a Saiyan thing, I know the meaning behind that word but I don't know what is it, and they're 'leader' is going to send a message of some kind (most likely a threat) to the world's leaders to try and find this thing."

Chester continued to stare at him. "You're really starting to scare me now. I... I don't want anything to do with this. I'm going home." He spun around and briskly started to walk away.

"You can't. You've talked to them and they know who you are."

Chester stopped after this statement, realizing the seriousness of the situation the invaders put them in. He slowly turned back to Vegeta, his face in deep distress, and said, "We're on the run."


	7. Lacrymosa

_Well, here in Canada, 'tis a long weekend. Hehe, anyways, the long awaited Lacrymosa... _

* * *

_**Chapter 6: Lacrymosa**_

Vegeta had tried to convince Chester that they were not in a hopeless situation, but the blonde had a strong argument. "You can't tell me that this isn't bad Vegeta!" he hissed, "those... things are here looking for you, and if they're causing those explosions and earthquakes, I have a right to be scared!" 

Vegeta sighed and gave up trying to calm his friend down. _Might as well let him get it out, _he thought. He started to zone out while semi-listening to Chester's rant, glancing around at the area.

From their position in the sub-division, Vegeta realized they were in plain sight for any other flying people to see. Quickly he formulated a plan for Chester and himself to at least be in a safe place for a while. "Okay Chester, you can whine all you want about this, but for now we need to move. Like you said, they're after us, so we might as well not be sitting ducks," he explained to Chester who had now begun pacing. He stopped his movement for a moment to consider Vegeta's plan, nodded, and asked, "Where to go though?"

"Bulma." Chester gave Vegeta a questioning look. Vegeta elaborated, "I bet you anything they're using electronics to communicate and plot out their next course of action."

With this sentence, Chester locked in to his train of thought. "So she could hack into their system and screw them over!" He let loose a small laugh and bolted to the direction of Bulma's house.

Vegeta watched him go for a minute, then said to himself, "Some days I really worry about his mood swings," and followed the ecstatic boy.

-----

Within a few minutes, the duo reached Bulma's machine shop house. Her father was an inventor and mechanical genius, so of course her garage and backyard resembled a mechanic's shop. Bulma had followed her father's path but was more interested in the actual sciences and electronics of machinery. Together, if the two ever thought of it, they could probably outwit all of the competition around the entire country.

As Vegeta and Chester approached the house, the rumbles in the background grew distant and silent, like they had given up for the time being. Before Vegeta knocked on the front door, it flung open to reveal a slightly angered blue-haired woman. "Thank you _so_ much Vegeta for showing up in a time of crisis," she all but screamed at him, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Trouble in paradise?" Chester mocked Vegeta. His returned reply was a death glare meaning 'shut it'.

Vegeta turned back to Bulma. "Actually, I need your help in relation to the... crisis." She arched an eyebrow, but let the two into her house. Bulma plopped herself on the couch, looking expectantly at her boyfriend and his tag-a-long, as she liked to refer to Chester, to start talking. Playing lowly behind her was the emergency broadcast system which Chester decided to focus on (the more they know the better) while Vegeta coaxed the visibly infuriated woman into helping them.

"Bulma," he started, "These people attacking the city are after us for some reason."

"Yeah, I've sort of figured that out," she interjected, pointing her thumb to the television. All eyes focused on it while a file picture of Vegeta flashed on the screen.

"Apparently they've contacted the reporters and the government, and you are now on the most wanted list," Chester relayed to the others. Vegeta started to run his fingers through his hair, obviously distressed. "And," he continued, "there is an evacuation of the city in order, plus they're checking everyone for your whereabouts or if you're there."

"That doesn't even make sense! I haven't done anything!" Vegeta let a sigh of frustration loose and started to pace. Chester turned away, deciding to keep his mouth shut over a few reasons why Vegeta would be on a wanted list, not knowing if anyone else knew he was a psychopathic killer. Vegeta suddenly stopped and turned to Bulma who was watching the duo with mild interest, "And this is why we need you to hack into their database thingy and find out why they're after me and... why they're calling me a Saiyan."

"A what?" asked Bulma.

"Exactly, I don't know."

She was confused by the situation Vegeta decided to include her in, but a sudden look of concentration on her face showed she wondered if her lovely computer could do such damage on a powerful instrument that they had talked about. After a minute of thinking, she suddenly stood to the surprise of Vegeta, who thought she may kick them out right now. She quickly walked out of the room. With shared looks of confusion, they wordlessly decided to follow her.

They located the woman easily as she was maybe five steps ahead of them, and Vegeta and Chester followed her into a room she liked to call her laboratory. Half of the walls were filled with shelves containing random mechanical machines or blueprints, off to one side was a workbench where Bulma was apparently working on one of her projects which she quickly threw a sheet over. "Don't trust us?" Vegeta questioned with a hint of rejection in his tone.

"You, I can trust. But," Her gaze shifted over to the blonde who was looking around the room in either astonishment or disgust from the mess. Vegeta nodded in understanding and motioned to the super computer that resided on the last wall of the room, which she began to start up. He then turned to Chester and muttered, "Go keep an eye on the emergency program."

Chester gave a puzzled look. "And miss this?" Vegeta mouthed _go_ with a forceful look, which Chester replied with a muttered "Fine." and turned to exit the room. Spinning back to Bulma who was already at work, Vegeta slowly walked up behind her as not to make her lose her concentration and watched her progress. Within minutes, she was able to locate the signals their communication deVeges emitted and track it down to the main computer system. With a few curse words here and there from her trial and error process, Bulma exclaimed, "Finally, I'm in!"

"That was still pretty damn fast," Vegeta mumbled as he leaned over her shoulder to get a better look at the screen. She gave a little smile at his compliment as he focused on the monitor, not aware she had heard. After the program had loaded, Bulma growled and threw her hands in the air, barely missing Vegeta. "What's wrong now?" he asked.

"It's in a completely foreign language, I haven't seen anything like it before. It could take _hours_ to translate," she responded, glaring at the screen. Vegeta focused on the lettering in front of him. At first he had the same response as Bulma, not understanding a letter, but within seconds certain letters became familiar, and within a minute he was able to piece together words and know the English parallel meaning behind them. It almost felt like a switch had been flicked on in his mind, and he could fluently understand the language in front of him.

With a mind state of instinct, he took over control of the mouse and scrolled through the archives. Already knowing the look Bulma was sending him, he replied, "Don't ask, I have no idea how my mind works." Shortly Vegeta was able to find a file of interest, mainly because it had his name as the title. After waiting for the file to load, Vegeta immediately began scanning through it:

___Vegeta Darius, Prince of Saiyans and Vegeta-sei (destroyed 13 years prior)  
Approx. 15 years of age; full-blooded Saiyan with Elite power level  
On record: power level 1506 at age 2  
Last known whereabouts:  
escaped assassination with parents King Vegeta and Queen Raluca, current location unknown  
Planet Earth under questioning for housing the Saiyan royalty  
Overdue to have disk reformated..._

Vegeta wasn't able to read any farther as Bulma grabbed the mouse out of his hand and closed the entire program. "What the hell are you doing? That had everything we need to know!" Vegeta yelled.

"They caught us in it," Bulma replied with a look of panic, pointing at a small flashing icon on the bottom of the screen. "If we stayed in the program whoever was running it would have traced the signal back to us." She began biting her nails, hoping their signal was cut off fast enough.

"Maybe you can get into it again in a few minutes or something?" he asked, wanting to read on.

Bulma shook her head in the negative. "They'll be monitoring it for a while. You don't just leave your most confidential files unguarded after you almost catch someone in them." Vegeta muttered a few choice words and stared at his feet, thinking of what to do next.

The ground began to shake, sounding like thunder beneath the earth. Vegeta and Bulma gripped the nearest big objects, trying to steady themselves. As quickly as it came, the earthquake passed. Chester, who was watching the news station with little interest as the same information was being repeated, raced into the lab after the ground became stable.

"I just looked out the window guys," he exclaimed, gripping the doorframe. "They're on the offence again. We have to go, Veg."

The dark-haired boy began to move to his friend but was stopped by Bulma's hand on his arm. "Wait a second," she said, "Do you guys have any idea what you're going to do? Or are you just making it up along the way?"

The duo looked at each other, expecting the other to say something regarding their escape plan. They each began "Well..", "We could..", but the words died upon their lips, knowing that there was no way they could wing their way out when the people after them have the ability to demolish the city, which they have showed everyone thus far. Bulma sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose. "I guess I'll need to help you out, again."

-----

A while later, Vegeta and Chester exited Bulma's house, from the back door of course. Another upside about going to Bulma was she lived almost on the outskirts of town, so the countryside isn't too far off. Leaving the destruction behind them, and hoping that everyone evacuated the demolition before it became too bad, the pair began climbing over fences and running through yards. After two, maybe 3 climbs, Vegeta stopped to wait for Chester. "You're either really slow, really out of shape, or both," he yelled back. He had to wait a minute before Chester's head popped up over the last fence, his body shortly following him.

"I'm still slightly injured, you can't blame me," he replied, gasping for air. He ran across the lawn to Vegeta, who was perched on top of the next fence to hop, and glared at him. "What'd you learn from your little hack job anyways?"

Vegeta quickly looked around, scouting if anyone was left in this part of town. Seeing no one outside, probably gone or locked inside, he sighed. This wasn't something felt like discussing while they were on the run. "I was in their database, like everything about me, even my parents' names. Apparently I'm ...an experiment and I guess my parents got me out before I lived the rest of my life wherever I was." He did not meet Chester's eyes, but shrugged. "Kind of makes sense now, why my dad taught me to control my strength so I didn't hurt anyone my own age, or any age for that matter."

"Wow... does that mean you can fly?"

Vegeta stared at Chester. "Why would I be able to fly?"

Chester shrugged. "I don't know, just a thought. Because if you could, you could carry me so I don't have to hop the fences anymore?"

Vegeta laughed. "Nice try," he said, and fell backwards into the next yard. "We have, like, four more to go anyways." He gave a few more chuckles at Chester's antics and started walking across the lawn. As he looked up to see how big the next one was, he thought he might need a running start, but stopped dead.

A few feet ahead was a humanoid, like the ones that flew above them an hour ago, but was about seven feet tall, dark blue colouring and looked like he was able to destroy Vegeta. His eyes fixed on Vegeta, giving him a chill from the coldness in them, and smirked at the boy before him. "Hello, Vegeta," he rasped. Vegeta backed up until he hit the fence he just fell over. He felt Chester grab the top and pull himself up, and in one swift move he jumped up and pushed the blonde back on the other side and tried to jump back over the fence. The alien was faster than Vegeta though and pulled him back on the ground.

Chester, not seeing anything over the fence, cried out in protest at the fast landing. "What was that for? That bloody hurt!" Mumbling curse words, he searched for another way over the fence. An accented voice behind him froze his actions and turn to face it. "Looks like we've got another one 'ere, Burter," said the orange alien with long, white hair, smirking at Chester.

Both of the teenagers had their backs against the fence. "What do we do now, Veg?" whispered Chester through the wooden wall.

"Fight," was Vegeta's reply. Vegeta swung his fist out to the man approaching him, but it caught his wrist in mid-air.

"You're going to have to try harder than that if you want to run," he hissed in Vegeta's face, twisting his arm around. Chester followed his example before he heard Vegeta's scream of pain, but was also caught by the white-haired enemy. Their attackers laughed in their faces and pulled the two into the air as they flew away, not giving another chance for Vegeta and Chester to escape.


	8. Not Meant For Me

_Yo, this was delayed because of my writer's craft class. As much as I love it, it's a lot of work and a hell of a lot of ideas are flowing through my mind now. And here's the next chapter woo..._

* * *

_**Chapter 7: Not Meant For Me**_

Vegeta struggled viciously against his capturer, deciding that if he did know how to fly, now would be a great time to learn of this ability. Chester, a few feet behind him, stared at the ground and partially clung to the brown-skinned alien, afraid of the 30 foot drop that he would endure if he struggled. Vegeta tried to land a punch on his kidnapper, but got a smack across the face. Chester winced as he watched Vegeta receive the blow. 

"No hitting back," the blue one laughed in Vegeta's face.

"Stop beating the boy, Burter, we were told to bring them in one piece," the orange one yelled over the force of the wind on them, and shifted Chester in his arms to scare the boy. Chester let out a small gasp for the second he was free-falling.

The prisoners and their capturers traveled for half an hour more. Vegeta had given up on struggling in the air; it was pointless to fight against someone stronger and faster than himself. He stared at the changing scenery beneath him, from land to water to land again, and hoped the men holding them would get tired soon and land. He couldn't hear Chester whimpering behind him anymore. The blonde had probably resorted to silence not to anger the brown man.

Soon enough, Vegeta's wish came true. A clearing came into view and the capturers lowered to the ground. Vegeta began to twist to escape the blue man's grip, but another hit across his face, drawing blood from his burst lip and cheek, stopped that attempt. Chester was brought to his side and the four people stood on the edge of the clearing.

"What's going on?" Chester whispered to Vegeta. Vegeta shrugged and spit out the blood that began to accumulate in his mouth.

The duo looked up as the air in front of them started to waver. A dome-shaped figure appeared in the once-clear air, the white metal reflecting the sun into Vegeta and Chester's eyes. Little yellow bubbles jutted out from the sides which Vegeta could only assume were windows. The middle and bottom of it were pure black, if Vegeta looked hard enough he could probably see his reflection in it. As Vegeta and Chester gazed at the unnatural object, further examination showed them it had engines on the bottom. They were standing a few yards away from a real spaceship.

The aliens holding Vegeta and Chester pushed them forward without loosening their grip, forcing the boys to walk. They led the duo to a ramp leading into the ship and brought them inside. Chester's capturer, who they learned was called Jeice, barked orders at a few passerbys who were also aliens. Though they were being showed around quite recklessly, Vegeta noticed every person (if you could call them people) that passed them had the same uniform armour, including Jeice and Burter (as one alien had called him).

After following the circular flow of the ship's hallways, the duo were finally forced into a room to their right. It resembled a closet, or as Vegeta saw it, a prison cell. Burter tied their wrists together with a small ring of energy, like the ones Vegeta had been practicing since he burned Fredrick's face off.

Jeice grabbed the arm of another passing person and said, "Go get Frieza. Tell him we found and captured his previous pet, and maybe another one to play with once he's strengthened up." As he said this he sneered at Chester.

Chester backed against the wall from his seated position at Jeice's gaze. He quietly asked Vegeta, "What did he just say?"

Vegeta watched Jeice close the door and left him and Chester in darkness. He replied, "They're telling their boss of us." He didn't know what Jeice meant to make of Chester, so he said nothing not to alarm the blonde.

The room was dark aside from the small light given off by their wristbands. It was only big enough for the two of them, and Vegeta could tell it was their new prison cell unless they could get past the aliens and get out. He felt around the wristband and tried to pull on it. All that did was singe a few hairs off his forearm, which he realized with a hiss. "Don't attempt to pull these things off," Vegeta mumbled, mainly to himself.

"I've sort of already figured that out," Chester muttered back to Vegeta. He was struggling like Vegeta, but stopped suddenly a few seconds before the dark-haired boy. Vegeta cranked his head back to see what the band looked like, but decided to look at Chester's instead since it was less awkward for him. Aside from little burn marks on Chester's wrists, all Vegeta learned from looking at it was it was made from pure energy. He cursed under his breath and leaned his head against the wall.

The ship began to tremor and the duo heard the engines start up. Vegeta jolted forward with the ship's movements and crashed into his friend, causing both of them to cry out from the sudden collision. The ship began to lift, or that's what Vegeta felt from their cell. He attempted to roll off Chester but as the ship tilted he hit the wall opposite, with Chester sliding into his side. Both groaned and decided to sit still until the ship stabilized or at least stopped moving. With his face slightly pressed on the floor, muffling his voice, Chester asked, "What happens if this is an actual spaceship and it leaves the planet?"

Vegeta, lying on his back, opened his mouth to respond but no words made their way out of the gap. After a few seconds of silence and glancing at his friend, Vegeta quietly stated, "I don't know... then we're stuck in space."

Chester turned his head as far as it could go to face his counterpart, causing him to almost be facedown on the floor. Vegeta saw the look of fear on his face, sighed and stared at the ceiling. "We need to leave now. Blow the door down, or a hole in the wall, something!" Chester exclaimed.

The roar of the engines stopped and the duo felt the air around them become lighter. Vegeta studied the room, even though it hadn't changed since the shaking began. They felt the room become level and heard the small sounds of machinery around them working. Vegeta said, "It may be too late for that, I think we've launched."

Chester rolled over and sat up so he was now against the wall but facing Vegeta. "We still have to try," he said. "Who knows what these guys want with you... and what they'd do to me."

Vegeta nodded and sat up as well. "Well," he started, "what do you propose we do?"


	9. Spiders

_Nothing to say, read on and review. I love the feedback... and don't worry about the point of view changes, I think this will be one of the only chapters that does it this much. Enjoy._

* * *

**_Chapter 8: Spiders_**

The control room was live with activity. Minions of every colour and body shape moved around, making sure the ship stayed active and on course to its next destination: home base. There were no windows; they did not need windows for all they would see was the long, black abyss and distant stars. In the centre of the room on a lifted platform stood a throne-like chair reaching towards the single story roof. The armrests had the illusion of stone snakes and vines engraved in the metallic substance, winding towards the floor and a few slithering upwards along the headrest. The workers stayed a safe distance away from this structure as not to anger the creature sitting on it by venturing too close. 

Frieza sat above his slaves, not even watching as they worked. If one tried to sabotage the space journey, they would be launched into the vacuum, and that was the easy punishment. He tapped his lizard-like white foot on the foot stand boredly, his clawed hand of the same nature resting against the slick side of his face. Aside from the running of the control panel and small, random orders spoken across the room, the atmosphere was dead silent, fear thick in the air. And Frieza liked it that way.

Suddenly Frieza, with a slight rasp to his voice, boomed out, "Where are my prisoners?"

After the workers had gotten over their shock (many had jumped), Burter stepped forward. "They've been placed in Cell 148. Would you like us to retrieve them, my lord?" he asked with a slight bow, his tall form perfectly tense.

"Yes," he replied, "Bring them to my centre room. I'd like to introduce myself." Frieza let out a small chuckle, sending shivers down Burter's back. The blue man bowed again and left the room, Jeice following closely behind.

-------

Vegeta and Chester sat opposite each other, Chester examining his burn marks, Vegeta playing with a small energy ball in his hands. They had long since broken out of the cuffs as Vegeta realized he could deactivate them with his own energy. The prison guards apparently didn't think he could use it yet. Chester's bright face suddenly looked up to Vegeta's. "What if you..."

"We can't burst through the door or walls, idiot. You don't think they would let an explosion go unnoticed?" Vegeta interrupted like the question had already been asked _many_ times, and continued bouncing the ball between his hands. Chester's face fell and he resumed examining his hands. He decided to take a new approach to escape.

"Well I don't see you coming up with any great ideas, Veg." Vegeta began to glare at his friend and disintegrated the ball in his hands. Chester, who started to play with his fingernails, ignored the look he was receiving. "Do you expect one to magically pop into your head, Veggie?" Chester asked, staring at Vegeta directly in the eyes.

Vegeta lowly growled at the nickname. "You aren't the only one with a problem being here, Chester. Maybe if you decided to move a bit faster back on Earth we wouldn't be here," he said with venom in his voice.

Chester's face fell slightly at the mention of Earth, but he stuck to his hard demeanour. "Well we didn't have to stop off at your girlfriend's house. Actually we did, BUT you two didn't need to be alone. Who knows what you two were doing in that room. Were you even hacking into the system, or made all that up on the spot?"

Throughout Chester's accusations, Vegeta grew more and more angry. By the end he had launched himself across the four feet between them and began to wrestle the other boy. Chester didn't expect Vegeta to actually start attacking him and yelped as Vegeta's hands snaked around his neck. Chester slammed down on Vegeta's elbows which released the grip on his neck, and punched the dark-haired boy on his already tender cheek. The two began wrestling, bouncing around the small space. Chester started pounding on the door with his free hand and soon enough a guard opened the door to separate the two. Chester yelled, "Blast him, Veg!"

Vegeta looked up at the intruder and obeyed Chester's order. The being cried out and fell back against the wall, clutching his burnt face. Vegeta resumed beating Chester after blasting the man. The two rolled into the hallways, still fighting.

"What are you doing!" Chester screamed as he struggled. "Go!" Vegeta looked up again and noticed the extra space. He quickly got up with Chester following him and started to run down the hallway. The scenery was all the same, metallic door after metallic door, so the duo didn't know of they were going the right way.

"We have to get out of this hallway. I think it's the main one," Chester said. He noticed the doors had hand recognition keypads and were named above the pad, but were written in the alien's language. He stopped suddenly in front of a door on the inner curve and asked Vegeta, "Can you read these?"

Vegeta spun on Chester and pinned him against the wall. "Was getting me pissed off you big plan to escape?" he said, lifting the boy slightly off the floor.

Chester choked a bit and replied, "Kind of. I was sort of winging it." Vegeta glared at the blond and let him fall on the floor with a small thump. He resumed walking down the hallway.

"By the way, Chester, that's a storage closet."

Chester whispered and embarrassed "Oh," and followed Vegeta's strides. Vegeta was now paying attention to the symbols written above the access panels, trying to decipher something that could help them escape. Many were other cells like their own, others were control rooms, but finally a door labeled 'stairwell' was discovered. "Now to test these access pads," Vegeta muttered, placing his hand on the vague outline, obviously intended for many hand sizes and shapes. The door opened upwards as Chester stepped beside Vegeta, revealing a short stairwell with another door on the other side.

"Ah, good job, Veggie," Chester said as he walked passed the boy and began to climb the stairway. The door on the other side slowly began to open, revealing feet from behind the door. Vegeta's eyes widened as he recognized the shapes and pulled Chester back on to their floor, his hand covering Chester's mouth. He pulled the blond further down the hallway, muffling Chester's cries of protest. Vegeta quickly found a room labeled 'pod storage', which he opened quickly and hid against the wall, all the while listening to the two aliens descend the stairs and make their way to Vegeta and Chester's cell.

As Vegeta noticed they were far enough away, he silently crept out of the room to retry the stairwell. "Uh, Vegeta?" Chester's voice from the room echoed.

Vegeta turned around and re-entered the now lit room, this time taking in what the pod storage actual was. He froze in the doorway and looked down the rows of miniature space ships.

---

Jeice and Burter turned the corner silently, their feet marching in step. In the distance they began to hear moans of pain which caused the pair to quicken their pace. Soon the injured prison guard came into view, lying on the floor with Vegeta and Chester's cell door wide open. Jeice let out a groan of frustration then disintegrated the guard with his own energy for letting the two escape. He motioned for Burter to continue down the hallway and search, and watched as Burter disappeared from sight, moving so quickly Jeice couldn't even follow his movements. Jeice, on the other hand, spun around and ran back in the opposite direction.

---

Vegeta sat in one of the pods with the window portion of the ship open, resting on the ground, trying to find the power button. "Maybe it's voice activated," Chester suggested while leaning on the top of the dome.

"Turn on, you piece of shit," Vegeta muttered still fiddling with the buttons.

Chester sighed and said, "You have to be nice to it, Veg." An onyx-eyed glare caused Chester to turn to another ship and open it with the latch they had found beside the door. He sat inside the compact pod and was thankful for the cushioned seat. To the left of his head, Chester noticed a mechanical box with a coloured piece of glass jutting out of the side, intended to stretch over the user's eye. On a humanoid at least. Chester picked the object off its holder and examined it. "This could be useful," he thought aloud.

A sudden humming sound and Vegeta cursing loudly caused Chester to jump forward and look over to Vegeta's ship. With the door slowly closing and the lights on the control board flashing, Vegeta yelled to the blonde, "The green button with the R-shape on it is power!" The door hissed as it closed and began to hover off the ground while Vegeta leaned back into the seat. He watched the buttons flicker one last time before stopping to light up some of the board. Vegeta saw the scouter placed on its holder, but the sudden jolt caused him to grip the armrests instead. "This is going to be interesting," he said.

Chester quickly located and pressed the power button, and sat back as his ship mimicked Vegeta's.

A small latch in the roof opened, wide enough for the two ships to launch, Vegeta's ship shot through the hole and into space. As Chester felt his ship lift and relocate to follow, he looked out the porthole to see Jeice standing in the doorway shouting at him, though he could only see the orange man's mouth move. Chester quickly flipped the man off before he too launched into the black abyss, the door closing behind them.

Chester noticed his ship was following Vegeta's through the vast blackness, which was a relief. A thought crossed the duo's mind at the same time: _Where are we going now?_

_---_

Jeice watched the two pods launch with panic running through his veins like liquid nitrogen had been injected. He had just watched the prisoners escape, doing nothing to stop them. _Please say Frieza won't see it that way_, he thought, still standing in the doorway.

"Who had the authorization to launch?!" Frieza's voice boomed over the intercom, anger evident.

Jeice gulped. "That was uh, the Saiyan and his, um.. friend..." he said uncertainly, waiting for the backlash. Burter zoomed in beside Jeice, quickly moving to the room after hearing the pods take off, and paranoia filled the room from their superior's tone.

Frieza's voice had changed to deathly calm with a hint of rage, "Get up here. Now." The pair muttered "Yes sir," then slowly obliged to the order.

The control room was quieter than the last time Jeice and Burter had left it in. Frieza stood in the center of the room, back facing the door with his arms crossed behind him. His tail lashed at the air around it; a positive sign that he was extremely pissed. The pair stood a few feet away from the thick whip, straight as a column and silently waiting.

Frieza cut through the silence with ease, "Do you know why I wanted the Prince to be brought in?" Without turning around or waiting for an answer, as he knew he wouldn't get one, Frieza slowly continued, "I knew he was still missing and living, and his mood swings would cause some notable damage on the planet he was on. Do you remember how every once in a while your translation chips get reformatted? Since he's been missing for almost 13 years, his hasn't, causing him to be quite violent... and uncontrollable."

Frieza's tail slowed it's movements to a slight twitch. Jeice, misinterpreting this movement as Frieza calming down, stepped forward. "Sir, its been known that you wanted to use the Saiyan to become another assassin, but if he's so uncontrollable how do you plan on that happening?" he asked with a slight hunch in his shoulders.

Swiftly the tail lashed to motion again, hitting Jeice across the face with crimson liquid covering both the tail and Jeice's face. Jeice stumbled back and clutched the open wound on his cheek. Frieza turned to face the pair, causing Burter to tense up even more with his arms straight at his sides, not moving to help his comrade. "Find the Saiyan. Alive," he exclaimed with another lash of his tail. Jeice and Burter bowed and ran out of the control room.

"He'll be lucky if he gets that thing back alive," Jeice muttered as he wiped the blood streaming down his face. Burter grunted to respond and the pair made their way to the radio room, intending on getting back-up to track down Vegeta and Chester.

---

The pods shook as they entered the atmosphere, leaving a trail of fire from the speed. The domes crashed into the ground with a force causing craters to form, though the pods were not dented or even scratched. The occupants groaned from the crash though, not used at all to the forced landing. The screens in front of them slowly flashed to reveal diagnostics on the atmosphere, showing a breathable amount of oxygen and temperatures and gravity very similar to their home planet. Chester couldn't read these symbols even if he was conscious, the impact knocking him out. Vegeta slowly opened the pod door and climbed out into the sunlit crater. He groaned slightly and began to walk up the slope.

Feeling the need to remove the thin clothing he was wearing from the heat, as it was the end of summer when they left the Earth and here it felt like a heat wave passing through, Vegeta finally stood at the mouth of his pod's crater and stared at the vast jungle beyond the clearing before him. Ghost-like figures suddenly filled his vision and acted out a scene in front of him. In the middle of the gathering, a man stood pointing and talking to the men around him though Vegeta heard nothing. They wore similar outfits to the ones in the alien's base, but were all human aside from the large monkey tails waving from their backsides. Vegeta shot the men walking by him a confused look, and as quickly as the apparitions appeared his vision blurred and they disappeared. Vegeta looked in a daze to the center of the men to see his father, almost a mirror image of himself but older, looking at him, then turning away to join the other dissipating forms.

Vegeta slowly blinked and rubbed his eyes to find the jungle and clearing empty, not even wind blowing though. Staring through the hanging vines and branches in the distance, he whispered, "I've been here before." 


	10. Before I Forget

_Give an honest review, how do you like the story now that it's... about 1/4 - 1/2 way through. Enjoy _Before I Forget...

* * *

**_Chapter 9: Before I Forget_**

"I really don't think that you've been on this planet before, Vegeta," Chester exclaimed to the boy walking in front of him as he pushed a hanging branch out of his path. Vegeta shrugged and stepped over a fallen trunk, the natural effect of an older forest.

"I'm just telling you what I saw, I don't know where it came from but it felt as though I've been on this planet before," he replied monotonously. Turning back to the blonde, he noticed Chester's head bandage now held a bigger patch of darkened blood than the last time he looked. Chester had knocked his head on a piece of machinery in the ship, most likely giving him a concussion but for now he only complained that his head was throbbing. With a sigh, Vegeta turned back to the foliage ahead of him.

While the duo was crunching through the woods, Vegeta was alert. He checked the trees they were to pass for anything; any sound he heard, he would crank his head to see what was causing it. Chester called him paranoid, but Vegeta saw him as reckless for not being aware of his surroundings. It's an alien planet, absolutely _anything_ could happen.

It wasn't before long when Vegeta noticed metal - or concrete - poking through the trees. The plants themselves had become sparse as Chester and Vegeta continued, and the weather had become chilly with each step. Chester had voiced this a few minutes ago, Vegeta mentally noticing it around the same time. _Maybe whatever is up there is resonating the coldness_, Vegeta thought. He slowed as they neared a concrete wall, stretching at least 7 meters into the air. The trees had vanished completely by this point, leaving the duo standing in a desolate area about 15 meters from the structure. It was here the duo decided to stop.

"Well, this is a problem," Chester said, gazing at the curve inwards the wall followed in the distance, trapping whatever was inside from the forest behind them. No noise was admitted over the wall, causing the duo to think nothing was on the other side. No gatehouses were visible, nor walking space on the top, only the grey sight blocking off the intense sunlight.

Vegeta started to contemplate whether they should even attempt to get over it, or turn back to the pods and find Earth. The escape was over, but Frieza may still try to track them down in the openness of space. Vegeta voiced this to Chester, causing the blonde to respond, "We have nowhere else to go. Like you said, he could be tracking us, hell, those pods may have a transmitter in them."

"So we have to hope something to help is on the other side." _We're on our last rope._ With this new action plan in mind, the pair stared at their new obstacle: the wall.

"Maybe there's a door or guard house down one of these ways," Chester pointed left and right down the concrete.

Vegeta shrugged his shoulders in acceptance. "It's worth a try." They chose to follow with the wall on their left, still at their distance, only slightly in the structure's shadow.

The silent walk in the cold caused Vegeta to question Frieza's intentions. Why had he waited so long to find him? What would have been the final result to himself and Chester if they hadn't escaped? Vegeta shook off these 'what if' questions when a snap to their right caught his attention. Vegeta and Chester snapped their heads to the sound, scanning the area and stopped their progress. "What was that?" Chester whispered, skimming the jungle area in the distance.

Vegeta didn't answer, not knowing the answer, and motioned for Chester to continue walking. He hoped something wasn't following them, not in the mood for another fight today. Chester, who was in step with Vegeta, became more paranoid of their surroundings and looked over his shoulder every few minutes, tension clearly visible on his form.

The terrain hadn't changed during their journey, the same backdrop of dead ground and the dark wall filled Vegeta's vision. The sun had disappeared behind grey clouds, completing the atmosphere of dreariness. An indent in the wall became visible and they subconsciously sped up their pace to see if it was the door or entranceway they were looking for.

A high-pitched screech emitted from the forest to the side, followed by a small four-legged creature. Chester swore loudly and began to sprint away from the attacking being. Vegeta followed him in fear as well, but turned back to see the creature had caught up to them easily and was only a few cars length away. Vegeta quickly formed an energy ball of blue in his hand and shot it at the grey creature, but not before taking a good look at the thing. Its eyes, two in total, were ebony black and glassy, gazing at the duo with hunger and malice, its mouth hanging open with razor teeth jutting out as if to bite them. It moved on all four legs, but looked as though it could walk on its hind legs alone. Little sores and gouges littered its sickly gangrene skin, making it look infected, or that there could be something else around to attack it.

The being was hit on its neck from Vegeta's attack, causing it to choke and sputter, and halted its progress. It fell forward with a dark substance oozing from the wound, but another creature like it dove out from a nearby dead bush. Vegeta dodged it and sprinted to catch up to Chester who was almost at the gateway.

A crowd of the creatures gathered at the forest line and bolted towards their newfound prey. Vegeta turned and shot at the ones closing in on them, but a few rose from the injuries and resumed attacking. Chester ran to the cement gate, which almost blended into the wall, and banged, pushed and yelled to get it open, but it didn't budge. Vegeta faced the aliens who had formed a semi-ring around them. He glared at each of them, counting 17 in total. He felt a small strand of panic flow through him at the thought of an all-out attack, but stood his ground, bringing energy balls up in a fighting stance to threaten them.

A brave creature to his right launched itself at Vegeta who quickly reacted with a kick to the being's neck and a shot to follow, making it cry out in protest and die. Another one took this opportunity to attack to his left and Vegeta was barely fast enough to not be plowed by it.

Chester ceased his banging as the door wouldn't move, and turned to see Vegeta with the small aliens jumping at him. Vegeta was handling them okay, but when a couple from Vegeta's batch noticed Chester pressed against the wall, they abandoned the crowded prey to attack Chester.

The blonde dodged the creature's lunge and followed Vegeta's example by punching its face. Its head whipped back a bit, but turned to Chester with a grin and lunged at him again. The other jumped behind him and held his arms from behind, so he resorted it kicking each and struggling from it's surprisingly strong grip.

He fought the two, earning himself minor scratches, but once an alien hit his tender wound he fell to the ground in an instant in pain. Rolling over at the sound of a snap, Chester realized Vegeta had grabbed the alien's neck and broke it before it attacked again. The second one was nowhere to be found. Vegeta threw the limp body to a pile where the other dead ones lay in a bloody and deformed mess.

Vegeta gazed at Chester, still on the ground, and the latter felt a chill crawl up his spine when he saw a bloodthirsty, empty gaze in the black eyes. Vegeta had received scratches as well form the clawed hands, and his lip wound had been reopened, blood trickling down his face. Vegeta silently looked at the gateway and banged his fist on it.

A crack of the rusted hinges was heard as the door moved a few feet open, enough for the duo to squeeze through. Vegeta stepped over Chester and walked through the opening, only to be met by a cluster of men with guns pointing at him.

Chester jumped to his feet and squeezed through passed Vegeta only to freeze his pace and widen his eyes at the small army. They yelled at the duo to stay where they were, speaking in a language very close to German. Vegeta soullessly glared at each of them, finally resting his gaze on the leader, he supposed, or the one who had shouted at them. He took a slow step forward and the men clutched their weapons closely, aiming at Vegeta's chest. Chester only stared as his friend walked directly in front of the gun, lifted his hand and bent the barrel sideways. The men gasped and stumbled aside from the leader, who stared at his gun in horror. Blinking a few times, the emotion rushed back to Vegeta's face and he stated, "We're not here to hurt you. We just need to get home."

The men, who wore long military-like jackets and had a slight orange discolouration to their skins, looked from Chester to Vegeta in front of their captain. A man behind the captain lowly muttered something to him, which Vegeta could not pick up fast enough. The captain nodded to him and asked the dark-haired boy in plain English, "You're a Saiyan, aren't you?"

Vegeta, still not knowing if his new status was good or bad, replied with a no. After a few seconds of staring Vegeta down and with a signal to his men, all of the guns were lowered and Chester let out a sigh of relief.

A man moved behind Chester to close the huge door but gasped as he witnessed the carcass pile Vegeta has made outside the door. "You killed a whole pack of Jambeson?!" he exclaimed to Chester in a slight German accent.

Vegeta turned to him and answered, "Those things tried to kill _us_. It was only self defence." The captain shook his head in disbelief and motioned for the man to close the concrete door, which he did with the same amount of ease Vegeta had opening it.

"That makes me feel so much better," Chester mumbled sarcastically and stepped beside Vegeta and the captain, who was a head taller than the duo.

The group of men moved back to their guard stations around the rocky pathway while a few fell in step behind Vegeta, Chester and their captain while they began walking away from the walk. The duo glanced around to see mainly concrete foundations and ground floors to be the only things left of buildings, but even those were barely standing. The town held a gloomy vibe, like it was the wreckage of a war zone. The men held their weapons close to their sides as if there was still something left to attack, but all remained quiet. Faces poked out of the windows at the sound of footsteps passing and stared at the two alien figures beside their commander. Finally, Chester questioned, "What happened here? It looks like you were attacked."

The captain sighed and looked around his desolate town. "We were once the travel capital of the universe," he began with his own German accent strong, his voice solemn, "until some people from our race had deified and pissed off Frieza. He attacked the planet, set loose some of his more primal creatures on the heated side of the planet which forced us to build and live here in the cold side (since we don't rotate). We had to build walls once the Jambeson, those creatures you killed, got out of control, and lost most of our inhabitants to safer planets. Since then, this pile of rubble is all we have left."

Vegeta and Chester glanced at each other from the horror story told, both afraid that Earth may suffer from their disappearance. Vegeta turned to the commander and asked, "But there has to be some sort of peacekeeping in the universe though, why haven't-"

The captains bold laugh caused Vegeta to pause and wait for an explanation. "Peacekeeping? You're new to space travel, for sure.."He spun on them with a grave expression, causing the duo to halt suddenly. "Frieza is the leader of the universe. Everything happens under his rule, where he allows it, when he allows it. No one has been able to step up to his strength and power, and for that we must all suffer."

He studied the boys for a few moments, then asked, "You said you were going home, right? Leave quickly, don't fall into Frieza's radar, especially you," he said pointing to Vegeta, "and keep your unknown planet safe. Do you need supplies?"

Chester lightly touched his head. "Maybe a new bandage," he said as he pulled a few bloodstained fingers away.

Vegeta gazed over the rubble once last time, seeing so much crumbling under the debris. He pictured the great cities of Earth suffering the same fate, sirens blaring, the yells of injured innocents, and the world's natural wonders crushed to nothing. He crossed his arms after a chill worked up his spine to warm himself, from the shiver and lack of sunlight presented. Vegeta raised an eyebrow at Chester's laid back request, and cut in defiantly, "I don't think we're going home quite so soon. Frieza's system needs to be broken, and I don't want my planet, or any more, to end up like this."

Laughter was emitted from the gang of soldiers around him. Vegeta looked around questioning their defeated state. "Aren't all of you against him? I'm sure there are many others out there that want to bring him down too. If enough people rebel then he could be brought down."

"Don't play hero, boy. You haven't seen anything yet, and you will get crushed out there. Go home," the captain ordered. Vegeta felt a sense of deja vu at the order, and remembered when upon meeting him, he asked Chester to do the same thing, but Chester disobeyed and was by his side in this nightmare. Would the same or worse fate happen to them?

The captain and Vegeta began a stare down, with Chester glancing between the two. He saw Vegeta was planning with or without this crew's help to take down his hunter. Chester swiftly sliced the tension, "Well Veg, lets go find some food and rest for a bit." He turned to the captain, "Which way did you say the supplies were?"

The commander pointed to a storey of a building to their left. Chester muttered a thank you and dragged Vegeta by his arm to the building.

"Chester..." Vegeta growled warningly.

"Hold on, we'll talk in a bit."

The guard by the supply house watched the duo approach, and with an approval by the captain he stepped aside to let them in. The captain watched the pair disappear into the dark building, then muttered to his right hand man, "The one boy is definitely a Saiyan, he may be working under Frieza and trying to rat out everyone against him. Do not let them leave the planet alive."

--

At once the smell of cardboard and metal filled their senses. There was a long, dimly lit hallway with doors on either side, and cracks in the almost broken walls. The duo cautiously walked, stepping over the few stones or bricks that littered the floor. The necessities were labelled by room, which Vegeta had deciphered for the both of them, and son they reached the food supply room. Chester immediately began opening boxes while Vegeta stood in the doorway and looked down the hall. They were near the end, and the only other person in the facility was the guard on the front door. Chester muttered about there being no fruit or fresh food in the boxes, but only cans or jugs of preserved food.

"Well don't expect anything fresh here, there's no light to grow anything," Vegeta replied to him once he entered the room. There was only one window, long and near the ceiling, giving the room barely any light but enough to get by. Dust settled on some boxes, but with their entrance some had been stirred up into the air, visible in the rays of light shining through. He watched Chester scan to find something edible since they had not eaten in over 16 hours, maybe even a day. At last he pulled out a few bags that resembled potato chips and the two hungrily tore the bags open. They sat on the floor after brushing off some dirt and dust, munching away until Chester spoke up, "What do you plan on doing?"

Vegeta looked at him with confusing in his eyes. "What do you mean? Well, I plan on eating these things..."

"No, no," Chester shook his head, "When the captain dude declined your offer, I knew you were plotting some scheme that will get us deeply involved in something that could easily kill us. So, I'd rather know your intentions now so I don't fuck them up and make it worse."

Vegeta cranked his head backwards to listen for any movement, then once he assumed it was safe, began telling Chester his plot.

--

The captain had ordered men to surround the building, blocking off any escape that the duo could make. They moved stealthily, barely making a noise on the rocky terrain. Once he had been informed that everyone was in their positions, the commander moved into the building from the main entrance, not caring if Vegeta and Chester heard him approach. He started to hear raised voices, and slowed his pace in order to listen into the teenagers' plans.

--

"You are insane, you know that? Who says that anyone would help you, let alone be friendly enough not to kill you on sight? You heard that guy, the universe is fucking dangerous!" Chester furiously whispered, leaning forward to emphasize his argument.

"Do you have a better idea?"

"Yeah, go home! Forget all this!"

"That will do nothing! You know as much as I do, and Frieza doesn't seem like the type of guy to let an escape go unnoticed. He will hunt me down, probably you too for the hell of it, and will stop at nothing to do so. He was searching for me for a reason, and until we know what it is, home isn't safe. It will cause more harm than good for our planet," Vegeta concluded on the same noise level as Chester, then thought to himself, _If the planet is still there. _Vegeta sighed. "I know this is putting us both on edge, but complaining about it doesn't help. We can't be at odds now when working together is key to our survival."

Chester visibly calmed down with a release of his breath, but was still slightly agitated. "So adding to my original question, _how_ do you plan on achieving this victory over the universe's highest power imaginable?" he asked calmly, defeat evident in his voice from their spat.

"Well, obviously not staying here. It's a desolate waste planet. We need more information before jumping into anything," Vegeta paused at the sound of approaching footsteps, the same heaviness he had heard from the captain's steps. "We may have overstayed our welcome here anyways. Grab as much as you can, find a sack or something, and I'll try to find a map or guidance system." Chester nodded at the plan for the time being and began his rummaging once again. He quickly found a bag in the back of the dark room and packed anything that looked edible into it. Vegeta looked out the hallway to see no one down their section yet, but knew the captain was right around the corner. He quickly spotted a 'records' room across the hall, and sprinted across to the room with the door hanging on its hinges. _This was conveniently placed,_ he thought while flipping through files to find anything that caught his eye, _Ah well, easier for us._

Seeing an entire folder labelled 'Mapping', he grabbed it from the pile and rushed back to the food room where Chester had packed two bags to their capacity. He threw one to Vegeta who strapped it around his form, shoving the file of maps into the pouch, Chester copying the movement with his own bag. They exited the room and passed piles of debris, heading towards the front door and only exit (that they knew of). Passing an area of weapons, Vegeta whispered to Chester, "Find something in there, you may need it but keep it out of sight for now. I'll stall."

Chester left for the room while Vegeta turned another corner, leading to the main hallway, and almost ran into the captain. "Oh sorry, didn't see you there," Vegeta said, trying to buy his friend some time. "So how's the, um, guarding going?"

The captain wrinkled his forehead at the question, but decided to ask one of his own, "Do you plan on staying to rest for a while? This place is probably not the best to stay in, we have other rooms set up if you like." He looked up to see Chester circling the corner, startled to see the captain so close to them.

"No, that's alright," Vegeta answered, his eyes turned to Chester to see if he had found what he was looking for alright. A small smile formed on the blonde's lips, causing Vegeta to turn back to the captain and reply, "We're actually leaving now, but thanks for the hospitality." He moved to walk around the captain and leave, but his path was blocked. "You're in our way, could you step to the side?" Vegeta asked politely.

The captain, who had misunderstood Chester's smirk to something more devious, replied with a stern, "No."

Vegeta, expecting this kind of hostility to show eventually, calmly said, "Okay," and swiftly slammed his fist into the captain's face. The commander cried in pain and stepped back, which Vegeta took as an opportunity to skim around the man, Chester following the suit. "Never mind about hiding whatever you got, you may need it," he said gruffly the blonde, speeding up to almost a jog to the entrance.

"Ah don't worry, it's easily accessible," Chester replied, patting the blade's hilt that was slightly poking out of his pouch. Vegeta gave a small smirk and nodded in approval at his choice in weapon.

The doorway guard was outside, along with a few others, aiming their weapons to Vegeta and Chester once they exited into the more lightly lit area. Vegeta lit up an energy ball in his hand menacingly while Chester pulled out the blade, almost like a small samurai sword, and the duo let their weapons hang at their sides. "We're leaving and don't want to cause any trouble," Vegeta stated loudly, trying his best to intimidate the men which was pretty simple for the dark look in his eyes.

The men obeyed their captain's previous orders and started up their weapons, for they were more advanced than the weapons the duo was used to on Earth. Vegeta fired at the man closest to him, Chester slashed at the one closest to himself, and both knocked the guns out of their hands. The remaining men quickly fired, which Vegeta had to dodge and fire at a few to save Chester from his slower reflexes. Chester continued to pull karate moves with the blade, and ended up slashing at a few of their arms so they wouldn'tbe able to pick the weapon back up. Neither had the courage to kill something that resembled at human, though they seemed very willing to take down Vegeta and Chester.

A few had run to get back-up, even though they knew the blonde could be taken down, his co-attacker was too much for all of them to handle. Vegeta had resorted to rendering people unconscious, all slashed and burned from the duo's attacks. Vegeta and Chester decided to run back to the large gate, but had to hide behind a large chunk of rubble when the guards from the gatehouses were informed of the attack and ran in their direction. Peeking around to see the security, Chester groaned when he saw the many, many locks located on the gate, "We can't get out of here without their help or a lot of time, neither that we have," he whispered to Vegeta and fell back into their hideout. "Now's your time to learn to fly, Vegeta."

"Why don't you learn how to fly, why me?" Vegeta muttered, and knowing it was their only option at the moment he tried to focus on levitating. He had no idea what to do, but had a suspicion that his energy had something to do with the ability to fly. When he pulled the energy to the core of his body, he felt more grounded than in the air, so instead he pushed it underneath his feet and instantly felt a lighter sensation.

Opening his eyes, he realized he was 2 feet off the ground, hovering behind the building. With encouragement from Chester, Vegeta slowly moved from side to side, up and down a fe with a bit of focus. "Okay, I'm going to help you this once, so get on my back Ches," he said lowering to the ground. Chester quickly hopped on, wanting to leave the enclosed area quickly. Vegeta tried to levitate again, but with the extra weight it took much more concentration than the first attempt. He shot into the air, just enough height to fly straight over the wall. Wavering slightly, Vegeta slowly inched out into the open. Chester gripped his shoulders as he picked up a bit more speed, and finally the two emerged over the wall. Vegeta sighed as he began lowering, the energy he used to float diminishing greatly. "Wait, we can get to the pods so much faster if you fly us!" Chester exclaimed as he felt his friend letting gravity take over.

Vegeta glared at him over his shoulder, but realized it would take more energy to walk the distance that had taken them at least half an hour before. So he pulled any remainding energy he had left out of his system and glided across the newly forming treetops. The jungle below intensified, as well as the heat in the air and Chester's grip on his throat. Vegeta started to gag as Chester's hand slipped and tightened around his trachea causing him to lose altitude very quickly. Chester reacted to the sudden drop by a scream and gripping Vegeta's body with his arms and legs until the two crash landed through the trees.

Vegeta lay on the ground coughing slightly as he breathed deeply, feeling like he was about to pass out from the lack of energy. Chester moaned as he had landed a few feet away on his back, rubbing the injured area as he stood. Chester walked over to Vegeta and looked over his fallen friend. "Well, you're not bleeding, not as much as I am at least," he said and checked his head.

"Oh, it's stopped now, joy," he continued, smiling. He raised an eyebrow at Vegeta's deep breathing. "So you ready to go yet?"

The dark haired boy made no attempt to move, but closed his eyes and concentrated stopping the burning sensation in his lungs. After a few moments, he muttered, "We're only a few... well we're close. You," he pointed to Chester which startled the blonde from the sudden movement, "are going to carry me now."

Chester only scoffed at the speech. "If you have enough energy to speak AND raise your arm, you are walking." He proceeded to turn and walk into the forest, leaving Vegeta to groan and slowly push himself off the ground. The two pushed through the forest until they reached the clearing with their ships, even though they were slightly over to the side. Both sighed in relief and plopped in front of the giant craters for a short rest. "Where to now?" Chester asked.

Vegeta pulled the electronic map out of his bag and turned it on, learning it worked like a GPS of the universe. Frieza's base was marked in red (no surprise there), and the planets/galaxies were all colour-coded based on their hostility levels and worth. "Well," Vegeta started, flipping through the statistics, "these have coordinates at least, and there's actually a highly advanced merchant planet nearby. It bound to be populated, but we need to form a plan. Can't go asking around for a rebellion group, it'd be too suspicious."

Chester nodded and stared at the ground for answers. "Oh! I have an AMAZING idea! We go home, and forget this ever happened," he exclaimed, then rolled his eyes at Vegeta's lack of humor.

Vegeta ignored his comment and stayed silent, thinking of a plot of his own. "We could at least go to the place to see if it's visibly against Frieza," Vegeta stated.

"Yeah, if not, well... think of something there," Chester concluded. Both nodded in agreement and started to stand. "Wait!" Chester said, then ran down to his ship. Vegeta raised a questioning eyebrow until Chester ran back up the slope with the communicator in his hands. "Does that thing have instructions on these? It was _very_ lucky that we both ended up here, but what if that doesn't happen next time?"

"I'm going to punch the coordinates into your ship, Ches, don't worry," Vegeta reassured. "And I have no idea what that is, maybe we can find out at Barcheck... The merchant planet," he continued as Chester questioned what 'Barcheck' was.

Vegeta ran down to Chester's ship with blonde and typed the numerical symbols into his keyboard, and the ship started up almost instantly. Chester hopped into the vessel and waved at Vegeta as the door closed automatically. "See you in a bit," the Saiyan responded, and ran up the crater and down the down to his own ship. He punched in the same numbers and within seconds the ship was in orbit behind Chester's. _Who would've thought this space travel thing felt so natural to me,_ he thought and leaned back into the squishy seats, awaiting arrival at their new destination.


	11. Our Own Way

_Sorry for the long wait, but stuff comes up, school's evil, the usual. This is only a hobby so unfortunately I have higher priorities for time, but I'll still try to write it quicker than this 3 month span next time. And now, everything gets interesting mwahaha..._

_

* * *

_

**_Chapter 10: Our Own Way_**

The journey was long and quite uneventful; the awe they had felt from the first journey through the wonders fo space had declined until they were bored in their isolated pods. The planet was only a few hours away with the super speed of the space ships, but that was still a few hours for Vegeta and Chester to kill in isolation. Vegeta sighed while slouching in his seat. "I wish I had brought cards or something," he muttered to the window and black abyss.

It was dead silent, only the slight hum of the engine filled Vegeta's hearing. He began to yawn and shut his eyes for a small nap, but was jolted awake bu Chester's voice filling his pod, "Hey Vegeta, can you hear me?"

Vegeta groggily spun his head around to find the source of Chester's voice until his eyes laded on the scouter on the wall. "I'm talking through the earpiece thingy, pick it up," the voice confirmed to Vegeta's suspicions.

He carefully placed the device on his ear and quietly said, "Chester?"

"No, it's the Boogeyman, I've come to steal your soul!" Chester answered sarcastically, "I was fiddling around with things in here and I locked on to your thingy's frequency, aren't I amazing?" Vegeta heard laughter from the other side.

"Why are you fiddling with the equipment? You could screw up your coordinates," Vegeta warned and leaned forward to catch a glimpse of Chester's ship, making sure it was still there.

"No, I'm not going near those buttons (yet), but I was thinking I could become a little more useful to your plot, so I'm familiarizing myself with the electronics."

Vegeta nodded, then realized Chester can't see him so he mumbled, "Yeah, you do that. Don't fuck it up though."

The duo talked about random topics for the rest of the journey, many of them reminding the pair of their home planet, and each glad for the company. The computer system announced arrival as Vegeta and Chester gaze upon a reddish-brown planet before they began to descend to it. They passed through a layer of dust in the atmosphere, but instead of crashing to the ground like their last flight, the ships glided over the barren surface until a metallic city came into view. "I guess this place has a landing dock," Vegeta voiced.

"Yay, no more concussions," Chester monotonously stated.

The ships landed gracefully in a parking lot filled with a few similar ones and others with extravagent designs and size. The planet, like the other one they were on, held enough oxygen for the Earthbound refugees to breathe, and the electronic map they possessed gave a vague outline of the city. As soon as the ships shut down, Chester moved to Vegeta's ship and watched him carve a small star with a rock in the side. As Chester questioned this action, Vegeta replied, "I want to know which one was mine, so we don't get back on it again."

"Don't get back on it? Do you plan on living here or something?"

"No, but unless you can figure out how to get the tracking systems that are bound to be in the controls out of them, we need to change ships to avoid detection."

"Oh wow, I didn't even think of that," Chester muttered, slightly amazed at the depth in Vegeta's strategy. After the two had gathered their belongings and weapons, they set out to walk the streets. At once they were met with a stifling crowd, and had to walk elbow to elbow in order to stay together. Vegeta noted they were in the marketplace by the side shops and commotion surrounding each, yells and low talking encircling them in many alien languages. Vegeta tried to pick up on a few conversations, but they were either speaking too quickly or in a tongue he couldn't comprehend.

Chester pulled Vegeta out of his observations as he leaned in and asked, "What are we doing here anyway? Did you pick this place for another reason than getting away from the last place?"

"Kind of, yeah." Vegeta noticed a store to their left a little bit ahead of them, and motioned Chester to follow him into it. As the duo neared the shop, materials and fabrics lay on rows of tables under the covering of the building.

"Clothes? We're going clothes shopping?" Chester questioned with a raised eyebrow. After a second to think, he then whispered, "We have no money, you know. Well, I have $20 in my wallet but I doubt these guys take Canadian."

"I know," Vegeta replied, "but we need to fit in somehow. In order to plan against him, we need to be less conspicuous so Frieza won't suspect anything. It'll be easier to recruit others too, as we'd be one of them."

Chester sighed as the duo entered the shaded area with no more light reflection from the high buildings. "Are you making this up as we're going along, Veg?" he asked while brushing past a few people to walk down the aisle.

"No," Vegeta said while stopping at some very common articles.

"Then tell me about the next step before we're already in it!" Chester whispered through his teeth.

"But this is such a funnier reaction." Vegeta felt Chester's glare burn into his head with a smirk. He glanced around and saw many people were crowded around the cash tables and no one was paying attention to them. "Find your size and put it in your bag," he muttered to the angry blonde and followed his own example.

"So the first thing we do not to get noticed is shoplift? Such great logic you have," Chester mumbled and followed his counterpart. The duo continued to look around for a minute of two then left the store. Vegeta pointed to a close alleyway which they entered, and moments later came out adorning the newly acquired clothing, now blending in to the diverse crowd with ease.

"I feel so different now; feel more like a rebel alien," Chester joked.

"That's what you are now, genius. Time to explore."

The duo continued to walk down the pedestrain road, dodging the passerbys that stumbled almost aimlessly around them. The atmosphere was energetic with movement, yet as vegeta looked into any oncominer's eyes, the gaze of fear and acceptance of their tyranical leader was clearly evident as they quickly averted their eyes. "This guy must be worse than I thougth," he muttered to Chester, "Everyone looks dead."

Chester only nodded in agreement. The market place wasn't as big as they thought as Vegeta and Chester reached the poverty-stricken residences within half an hour. The buildings became less of skyscrapers of offices and shops, and more of a few storey apartment buildings, all which felt like a downtown ghetto spread across the district. The inhabitants around this area were nothing like the variety of mutants in the market. All ages of the creatures were brown skin with their disfigured bones prodding through, the multiple eye sockets and facial bones were sunken and stared hungrily at Vegeta and Chester's fresh flesh. Chester gripped the hilt of his sword in anticipation of an attack, scanning the pepole sitting on the roadsides in rags. Vegeta was alert as well and started to slow his walk. He grabbed his friend's arm lightly and whispered, "Turn around, we're going back. I don't trust this area."

Chester halted and stared questionly at Vegeta. "Back to where? What are we doing here anyway?" he exclaimed, waving his arms in the air. After a few moments of silence, he continued, "Do we even know how to go about finding this little army of yours that may not even exist?"

Vegeta rubbed his temples and sighed. "No, I don't Chaz. I've been trying to figure that out this entire walk. The store signs held no help anyways," he paused to look around at the poverty, "And if anything, this planet looks like it's controlled by an uncaring monarch."

Chester interjected, "Maybe it's Frieza in power."

"In that case, we _definitely_ need to be discreet, but there has to be something already started if he's a horrible guy."

"Well, that's understandable, but we don't even have a safe place to sleep right now, or even money for food and that _essential_ shit!"

"Since you seem to know what we need, why don't you think of where to go and how the fuck to live!" Vegeta yelled back at Chester's accusing tone.

"I'm not trying to argue with you, Veg, but we _need_ to think of other things as well. This is a life or death situation now; you can't run off on an idea that you know nothing about."

Vegeta began to pace in the street with a few aliens around the watching intently. Others lost interest in the yelling of the two strangers and resumed their hunt of water or whatever else they felt necessary to live the night. Chester watched the younger man run his hands into his flamed hair in frustration and emit a low growl, and questioned sympathetically, "What do you want to do now, Vegeta?"

The irritated man stopped and stared back into the bazaar. "I have no clue," he admitted dejectedly, "But I do know I am fucking tired and we need to find a place to sleep." As he said this, Chester realized Vegeta's eyes did look exhausted from the energy he's used inthe last few days and worried. He felt a yawn pushed out of his own mouth and felt the weight of exhaustion on his own being.

"Do you think we could bunk in one of these places for a few hours?" he suggested, pointing his thumb at the metallic buildings.

Vegeta glanced with disgust at the inhabitants standing or sitting on the fire escapes. "Would you really want to? They look like they want to eat us or something, maybe they will."

"True, but where else? No money remember, so no fancy-ass hotels."

"Well, find an empty, clean room then."

This task became harder than Vegeta anticipated. The few buildings in their area were pure poverty, so their already tired bodies had to walk farther until a slightly abandoned, smaller apartment came into view. Two aliens sat outside leaning on the cool metal in the shade to escape the sunlight glaring off the metallic walls, and paid no attention to the dup sneaking through the front door. Inside was no different than they pictured; the floor was a darker metal than the walls, but a few light fixtures illuminated the hallway like a decrepit hospital. Vegeta noticed the doors were as high-tech as Frieza's self-opening doorways, so he jiggled knobs as he passed and found one that was unlocked. He opened the heavy door slowly because of the weight, and peeked in to see if anyone inhabited the single empty room. "This will work for now," he said after scouting the shadowed corners of the room and walking in, "It's completely empty."

"Does it have a lock on the door?" Chester asked from the doorway.

Vegeta turned around and checked the back of the giant piece of steel. "Yeah, we're safe for now," he replied.

Chester quickly closed the door behind him and engaged the lock, making sure if it worked properly. He heard Vegeta snicker from the other side of the room and turned to face him sitting comfortably against a wall. "If you're so paranoid," he began with a yawn, "We can take shifts to guard the door and this blocked off window." He jerked his thumb toward the partially barricaded window above his shoulder.

The blonde laugh uncomfortably to prove he wasn't too scared at the area, but silently agreed to Vegeta's suggestion. Chester began adjusting his head wrap in the silence. Vegeta rolled his eyes then shut them to let his body relax and start to fall asleep. He barely heard Chester cry out, "Hey! Who says you get to sleep first?"

"I do," he mumbled and blacked out.

-----

The lizard stood at his window, glaring at the small merchant planet, the room only lit from the light in the dark matter of space. His ship hovered against the pull of gravity, leaving a menacing shadow on the planet. Frieza glanced at the blinking GPS on a table in front of him, locating the Saiyan and his accomplice. A scowl appeared on his shadowed face as the signal stayed in one place. They had attempted to escape him, with his own pods? Vegeta needed to pay. Frieza quietly muttered to a few men lined across the room, "Get them by any means."

One decided to speak against the tyrnat in surprise, "But sir, this is a high-grade trading planet, _we_ even get equipment from here. It can't be destroyed."

"Get. Them!" Frieza yelled as he turned to face the group. The men nodded, losing their voices in fear or obedience, and collectively walked out of the room. Frieza swiftly crossed the room without the men noticing and blocked the man that spoke out. "You seem like you want to stay here though," he said with a sinister tone.

The man paled as his leader's smirk widened to an evil grin while the remaining men left the room quickly. The group heard Frieza's tormenting start as the door from the man's screams echoing around the circular hallway. While walking by a doorway, a tall green-skinned humanoid motioned to Jeice lounging inside with a few multi-coloured men. "You," he started, "Come find the Saiyan."

Jeice's eyes and grin darkened as he stood. "Zarbon, of course I'll join you," he replied as if being asked to move, and joined the band of aliens heading to the docking room.

-----

"CHESTER! Wow, you don't sleep; you fucking hibernate..." Vegeta uttered to the sleeping blonde, giving up on shaking him awake. He dropped down to sit beside Chester's sleeping form and sighed. He was woken too early for his liking and found nothing in the room to amuse himself for his guard shift. Vegeta tore a few planks off the window to glance outside, learning their second storey view was a great one to the road leading to the market. A very small amount of people accidently ventured into the urban area in the last two hours, turning around quickly from the unsafe feel.

Vegeta lighted nudged Chester with the tip of his steel-toed boot and the boy jolted up. "You're kidding me," he exclaimed, "I shake you, yell, yet a small nudge actually wakes you? Ugh.."

Chester yawned and blinked the sleep still in him away. He glanced groggily at the room, ignoring Vegeta's comment and asked, "We're still here? Damn, I thought it was a dream."

"Nope, still stuck with no plan," Vegeta sighed as he glanced out the window again. The sky was a pale yellow from the lack of water to reflect a blue sky. It was so different than what he was used to, and yet it felt more familiar than Earth's baby blue sky. "I belong out here," he stated to the sky.

Chester paused his stretches and turned to face the day-dreaming boy. "Here?" he questioned, "Veg, these are aliens."

"I don't mean here as in this planet, dolt, but space altogether. It feels right," he said with decreasing anger in his voice.

"Sure, why not," Chester gave in, still slightly asleep to argue.

In his peripheral vision, Vegeta noticed 5 objects stain purple smoke streaks across the sky, like fighter jets, all heading towards the docking area of the planet quickly. They came from behind the residences and flew dangerously close to the bazaar shop roofs. A reflection on one building caught his interest as the millisecond the spherical ship passed he saw their orange-skinned captop grinning viciously as he awaited arrival. Vegeta's eyes widened. He stuttered out, "Chester, they found us."

"What?!" Chester roared and raced to the window. He scanned the sky until he saw the dust cloud of the spaceships landing. His knuckles turned white as he gripped the windowsill and swore under his breath. "What do we do?" he whispered as though the powerful beings could hear them. He began pacing quickly.

Vegeta, still seated, stared at the ground as he thought out any possible solutions. It was likely that they wouldn't be found with the number of bodies on the planet, but he didn't know the measures the menacing aliens would take to sort everyone out. All he knew: they needed to run. "Gather your stuff, we need to find another dock."

"And go where Veg? Admit it, we can't run from these guys forever-"

"That's why we need to find someone to help!" Vegeta shouted over the panicking tone. The two stared at each other for a minute until Chester scoffed, muttering "Fine," and began to shove whatever was his into his bag.

Vegeta slung his own bag over his shoulder and glanced apologetically at his friend packing. _I need to get him home, this isn't his battle. _He strolled out of the room with caution with Chester following wordlessly behind him, tension definitely thick in the air. They exited the building to see the natives outside hadn't moved at all during their stay. Vegeta had a quick idea and approached one with Chester giving him a weird look. He kneeled down while the dehydrated being slowly looked at him, waiting for something. Vegeta began, "Is there another docking bay on this planet?"

The skin-bag stared at him with no expression for a few moments and Vegeta tried to access the languages he thought were somewhere in his consciousness. Suddenly it raised it's arm, making Vegeta jump back as it pointed in the opposite direction of the other one. Vegeta saw its dried lips move, but had to lean in a little bit to catch whatever was being said. Only one word came out of its throat, "Far." Vegeta nodded in understanding and stood up. He felt slightly sorry for the being awaiting its death, but had no choice but to leave it to suffer. He began walking briskly in the alien's direction, causing Chester to run up until he was walking beside the flame-haired boy.

"Where are we going now?" he asked impatiently, apparently still at odds with each other.

Vegeta stared ahead and stated, "Another shipyard. I'll look at the maps once we get there." Chester nodded and said nothing more as they continued to walk through the town for what felt like forever.

-----

The city ended quickly as the barren wasteland continued across the plaent, like they had seen when arriving. The duo was in the open, hoping a fly-by wouldn't give away their secrecy (definitely sticking out against the grainy desert). Against Vegeta's judgement, the sun didn't reflect off the ground as the air was cool, not as hot as the natives had made it out to be with their dying moans. He glanced out of the corner of his eye at Chester who hadn't uttered a sound since they left the apartment, and for a second watched the blonde, in his foreign clothes, stare around for a speck of life. He looked annoyed, maybe even pissed at their lack of security as soon as they left Earth. Did he regret sticking around with Vegeta all those years ago after been saved from the muggers? Was their friendship worth the permanent threat of death?

Vegeta sighed as he realized his responsibility of anything were to happen to Chester. He cleared his throat to get his friend's attention, needing to stop the tension that had doubled in the last while. Chester raised his eyebrow, not in a social mood and waited for Vegeta to speak. "It may mean nothing, but I am really sorry, Chaz," Vegeta said as sincerely as he could.

Chester's eyes fell from his hard look for a few seconds to accept the apology. "I know," he answered, "Let's keep going, I'd rather not be out here for Jeice and Frieza to find us. Not sure who'd be worse." He gave a quick smile and walked past Vegeta, who gave a sad smile of his own, still feeling like the bad guy in their situation.

"Hey! There's something!" Chester exclaimed, causing Vegeta to sprint to his side. He looked in the direction Chester pointed, seeing a runway of ships, moving almost like a highway, and another city behind it. The landing strip ran from the end of mountainside of a patch of the rock formations.

"Good eye," Vegeta stated and began walking towards the parking lot. "Now we need to find one we can work before anyone notices us there."

Before Chester could respond, a gust of wind pushed them forward as they felt their feet leave the ground and claws around their arms. Vegeta spun the best he could to see a salamander-like humanoid sneering in his face, it's claws drawing blood as it dug into his arm. He started to push the being off but only caused the claw to pierce his bicep further. Giving up on that approach, he quickly spotted Chester's captor to his right and angled his hands so both were facing an alien. Gathering enough energy to damage them, he released the balls at their unexpecting faces. They screeched and released the humans while trying to cover their faces, letting them fall onto the moutains below. Vegeta tried to fly against the current of gravity and reached to Chester, screaming a few feet away. He gripped the blonde's forearm and pushed against the oncoming air, unsuccessfully only delaying the fall by milliseconds. Vegeta glanced down and swore before they crashed forcefully into the rocks, knocking them both unconscious as they tumbled down to a snow covered valley high in the range.

-----

Vegeta moaned as he awoke, coughing on the blood accumulating in his throat. He regretted the action as his left lung screamed in protest, possibly from a few broken or bruised ribs pressing on it. He rolled over and opened his eyes to see the sky was dark and the air had cooled substantially. He breathed heavily as he tested his arms and legs, finding them only slightly in pain but still moveable. Vegeta slowly sat up, favouring his right side as not to hurt his damaged one, and saw Chester lying facedown at his feet. "Oh shit... Chaz wake up!" he mumbled in a panic and reached to the fallen boy, pushing him over slightly.

Chester hissed as pressure fell on his arm, which Vegeta noticed afterwards was bent at an unnatural angle and had darkened the snow around him. He let the blonde back down to his previous position as Chester groaned back to consciousness. He flipped onto his back and blinked, his eyes still slightly glazed over with pain. "What happened," he questioned and tried to sit up himself, only to find his healing head injury pounding and promptly lay back down.

"We've been out for a while, but we still need to get off the planet," Vegeta stated as his head began to clear and recap their dilemma. Chester nodded and held up his hand to signal rest for a minute, Vegeta completely agreeing. The duo assessed their injuries, seeing that Chester's previous pains had doubled on top of his newer ones.

A low growl was heard from the level above, causing Vegeta to peer through the darkness to see cougar-like shapes moving above them. "No more rest," he whispered and slowly stood, "There's animals around here, let's go."

Chester turned to the source of the growl as he stood as well, wincing as his injured areas moved. They backed away as not to cause any sudden movements and hiked down the hill to another valley. As soon as they were far enough away, they sprinted to the full landing strip, still a few minutes away.

The duo ran southward towards the highway, their only escape route. The snow covered brush they ran through became stained with any blood they had left in them. Vegeta made a pathway for Chester to follow by, knowing he was too weak and tired, and may collapse at any minute. He back at his friend, noting how he had a very obvious limp and clutched his bloodied arm.

"You have to keep going, Ches! We're only a few yards away!" he yelled back. The blonde shook his head and fell to his knees. Vegeta cursed under his breath and made his way back to his fallen friend.

By the time he arrived, Chester was on all fours (the best he could be), breathing heavily. "This is going to kill me," he heaved. Chester began to cough up blood and the snow became a dark crimson, only seen as black in the darkness. Vegeta dropped to his knees beside him, with his own blood starting to leave its mark as well. _Shit,_ Vegeta thought,_ he can't go any further, and I'm in no shape to carry someone. _Sirens from the base caught both of their attention as they realized the space pirates knew they were there. "Vegeta, just go. They're after you, not me."

"Fuck that," Vegeta answered and searched the skies for answers. _What am I supposed to do..._ He glanced at Chester lying in the snow and knew there was only one option. "Chester, please trust me," he said as he began piling snow on the blonde's body.

"What are you doing?" Chester exclaimed and tried to get up.

Vegeta pushed him back down and said, "Once you're covered, I'm going to keep going. Wait about 10, 20 minutes then you should be safe." He reached into his bag and pulled out the interactive map. "Find Earth on here and go home." Chester began to interrupt him but Vegeta continued, "Like you said, they only want me, so you'd better go." He thought for a moment, then sarcastically added, "If I find you around here in the future, I'll hurt you." He smiled for a second and pushed more snow on the shocked boy.

Chester had no choice but to obey and heard Vegeta's muffled feet running away. After a few minutes the alarms stopped, followed by an unnerving silence. He pushed the snow off his face and looked around, seeing no one, not even his friend. He stared at the ships, knowing Vegeta had been caught in order for him to survive, but now what? Go home without his best friend? _Well, I've proven I'm not leaving this far in, what should change now?_


	12. Ego Brain

_The chapter skips a bit between flashbacks and such, so just be open to follow along to them. It's easy to tell.  
Next up, Ego Brain... _

* * *

_**Chapter 11: Ego Brain  
**  
A year later…_

The spiky haired figure stood at the edge of the cliff and watched the city below. It was very similar to the village he had been in a few hours ago, which no longer existed. He glanced around, almost bored, at the small struggle the inhabitants showed from his invasion. Vegeta's cold stare only proved to them that they were no match for the army of strength the new space pirate possessed, and were only ever so slightly prolonging their demise.

Vegeta felt the cool, brisk wind flow around him as he breathed the fresh air into his system. An underlying scent of burnt ruins caused him to smirk in appreciation of his deed. "Oh how I love the smell of demolition," he sighed, "So tempting." He casually walked down the slope to the side, prepared to wreak more havoc on the world. The young spirit was gone, replaced with a monster of hate.

--

As Vegeta returned to consciousness, he found himself in the familiar, cold environment of Frieza's holding cell. His vision was blurred and his injuries were still bleeding from his crash landing. He barely felt the continuous sting from his punctured lung though, and only was aware of the emptiness his final decision brought upon him.

Vegeta curled his legs into his chest the best he could and let his vulnerability show to the walls. He felt like crying but wouldn't let the tears escape. No, that would give these monsters something to use against him. _I can't let these creeps tear me down. If I am going down, someone's coming with me._

The door to his prison opened, slightly blinding the dark haired boy from the light outside. Vegeta squinted to distinguish the outline of a humanoid standing over him, letting his eyes adjust. A few seconds later, he saw the green-skinned man staring unfazed back at him. "Get up," he declared, "You're going to Frieza."

To start what turned out to be months of breaking his will, Vegeta sneered and uttered, "Fuck you."

--

Vegeta continued through the village, not concerned over their weapons of safety. He yawned as he realized how much of a joke this mission was, just used as an excuse to get him to stop tearing the ship apart and anyone on it. He knew he had a very explosive nature, and reveled in the fear he put in others hearts. Buildings were collapsing around him, screams echoing through the valley as they cried for their loved ones; this terror had become his greatest asset in life.

Vegeta flared up his energy as he felt bullets flying close to him, melting them instantly. The months of _training_ he was provided taught him to be more in tune to his instincts and gave new heights to his senses, giving him a better advantage than what he had before.

He faced the terrified crowd behind him. They quickly attempted to reload their ammunition, hoping at least one bullet would catch him off guard. Their enemy in the alien armor only chuckled, sending shivers through anyone who heard it. Vegeta raised his arm and let his energy go, incinerating his target with a sadistic grin on his face. The only side effect to his torture was he became the very monster he was trying to destroy.

And he liked it.

--

The days turned into weeks and Vegeta still wouldn't give in. He was healed like magic from the alien technology over and over only to be beaten almost to death every day. The urges to cause pain to others became stronger, as did his want to unleash it on his tormentors.

During the first few weeks, and in the solitude of the night did he wonder about Chester's fate. Was he able to leave quick enough, or was he captured too and kept away on another part of the ship? Vegeta felt horrible; the blonde was like a brother to him and he should've listened to him sooner. Vegeta didn't have the energy for regret though, he needed to survive.

Vegeta's pain tolerance increased steadily, much to his liking as he became emotionally detached from the world. He was purposely kept isolated by Frieza's orders, and the ones he learned were called Zarbon, along with Jeice and Burter, had no trouble obeying that.

--

Vegeta gazed at his work, and with a slight nod in approval he watched his explosives level the land. "Need to save some energy," he laughed as the smoke billowed into the air. He found a new love for the bombs, causing agony in his targets' lives. He didn't think of anyone as people anymore; that would only cause him to actually feel for them. He was sent to kill the race, and that's what he would do, no questions asked.

--

The weeks morphed into months and he still felt like he prevailed. Vegeta didn't see the slight changes in his attitude. He would snap at others more often instead of keeping his mouth shut; he would lash out at Jeice on many occasions in order to satisfy his need to harm the alien; but worst of all was his hatred. It grew with every day; every wound inflicted on his flesh caused the loathing to boil. It was only time before his anger consumed him, and there was no more guilt for his long lost friend.

--

Vegeta sat in the ship he programmed to hover above the planet's gravitational pull. He leaned forward to get a good view of the orb and rubbed his hands in anticipation. He knew Frieza was watching every step he took closely to completely control him, and he wanted to show the leader that he took orders from no one.

"This will be good," he exclaimed happily, but added in a different tone, "if I wired them right." Vegeta shrugged and picked up the detonation switch by his side. The planet was meant to be cleaned for the next buyer, but Frieza never mentioned how barren it had to be.

The Saiyan's finger hovered over the button as he counted down mentally. _3…2…1…_He circled the switch then pressed it, waiting for the light show with wide eyes.

The planet was covered in a wave of destruction, quickly annihilating the doubt of any survivors. Vegeta laughed ruthlessly as his hard work exploded so smoothly. He wanted damage, the only thing that made sense anymore.

As the flashes died down, he programmed the pod to head back to home base, waiting for either appraisal or bone-shattering thrashings.

--

Grey eyes stared at the screen in sadness. The computer replayed the now nameless planet's death, earning a quiet sigh from the blonde-haired mechanic. "This isn't you," he whispered, "If only you could remember who you really are."

Chester turned back to the latest mindless project Frieza had assigned his division, something he knew would create casualties and destruction. There was nothing he could do about it though, not until he was able to reach his alienated friend. "I hope I'm not to late, Vegeta."


	13. A Place For My Head

_Haha new chapter finally! Decided to start off the new year well and hopefully post quicker. I truly am sorry for the delays, this story is _slightly_ on hiatus right now. Busy time in my life, lots of projects and shit like that = not much time to write. Sorry for the many delays ahead, college life is here... But anyways, I am typing this story as you read, little by little, already got the plot and stuff done. Thank you for being patient if you are, we've all had it happen. And now for your reading pleasure, chapter 12 of Why We Live:_

* * *

_**Chapter 12: A Place for My Head**_

Vegeta returned to Frieza's home base a few days after the now nameless planet's massacre, smirking at his job well done. He couldn't believe he missed all of this those many years on Earth and wondered why his parents even took him into hiding. His grin faded though at the sight of the minions lingering in the halls in front of him. Even though he had a power of elite status, he was still seen as the newbie and a lesser being altogether. He was taunted constantly for his race (apparently Saiyans are not so popular even though they were extremely powerful, as a complete race), but he wasn't in the empire to make friends either. Vegeta straightened his posture and held his head high as he walked past the taunts sent in his direction, not even flinching as the aliens made comments on snippets of his past; nothing was personal in Frieza's command anymore.

Once entering the residence area of the base, he veered off to Frieza's main conference room. Upon returning from missions, all elites were required to make a report directly to Frieza. Only elites were graced with the privilege of challenging missions, but some stronger commoners were allowed on these missions as well, as tag-a-longs, to become trainees for the elite army.

The halls became a little less crowded as he moved closer to the grand room as only selective groups were allowed to be in 'his' presence. The current corridor reached up to an unimaginable height and expanded horizontally to accommodate for the wood carved door, giving anyone in the hall the feeling they were insignificant. For the first few weeks of his training, Vegeta was only in this room for punishment if Frieza called him there, and had slightly become one of the alien's favourite to train to the empire's ways. Vegeta repressed a shudder and tried to show no visible anxiety about meeting with the warlord. Even after a year, the recent memories still gave the prince the creeps.

The doors opened quickly for their size as Vegeta approached, yet there was no one on either side to do such a movement. On a hovering circular seat at the end of the room sat Frieza, his back to Vegeta's approaching form. The saiyan sauntered to the hovering seat and stopped at a small distance from the lizard. He bowed respectfully, but would not lower himself too much out of spite. Without turning from his luxurious window view of the dead planet, Frieza spat, "You're late. That mission was only to be a week, not 3."

Vegeta smirked as he raised his head. "You can't expect me to just annihilate everything and not have a little fun while I'm at it." His chuckle was cut short by a whip to the face, presumably by Frieza's speedy tail. Vegeta kept his face turned to the side and waited for Frieza's lecture that he _knew_ was to come. It wasn't the first time the prince had decided on a little extended time for his recently achieved purges, or any assignment for that matter.

He flinched as a cold hand slid down the side of his face, trailing the thin line of blood by the blow and ended by lightly grabbing his jaw. Vegeta knew better by now than to pull away, but tensed in preparation for an attack if necessary. He swallowed hard as Frieza turned his head to face the lizard.

"Vegeta," Frieza started, "I'd hoped by now you would've learned how to conduct yourself in my empire, after everything I've taught you."

The saiyan paused a second, considering the consequences of anything to say, but rebelliously continued anyway. "Apparently not."

The hand on his jaw tightened to painful levels as Vegeta felt the bone begin to crack under the pressure, but the swift blow to his abdomen relieved that to a newer pain. Vegeta was down in an instant choking on his air and Frieza leapt from the circular chair. "_Apparently_, I was relying on you to learn too much too quickly; too much for your primate brain to handle," Frieza said as he picked up the young prince in a choke hold, "Maybe you need more time to learn."

Vegeta was thrown into the nearby wall, causing the section to crack and Vegeta to crumble to the floor. He jumped up to dodge the next attack, an energy beam that would have burned his torso. Vegeta growled as he pounced in to attack, not wanting to let Frieza beat him senseless once again. Frieza was quick though as Vegeta was thrown to the ground and held by the lizard's clawed foot. The saiyan coughed from the pressure on his now bruised ribs and struggled to get free.

The warlord crushed Vegeta's chest to halt his struggles. "Now, now," he criticized, "You know better than this." With a sinister grin Frieza contracted his foot and dug the claws into Vegeta's armour, piercing the material, skin and slightly the bone. Vegeta clamped his jaw shut to hold in a scream threatening to rip out of him. He knew the torture was to come the second he walked in the door, but would not let this control freak hear his pain.

Frieza leaned in and whispered to Vegeta's bloodied face, " Things would begin to look better for you if you _did what you're told!_" He leaned more weight on Vegeta to emphasize each word, who only stared up with hatred in his eyes. Frieza smirked and continued, "You would do so much better if you weren't so injured all the time." He cackled and began to twist his foot slowly.

Vegeta had enough. Through the blinding pain, he conjured a small ball in his left hand and slashed at Frieza's ankle. Frieza backed up, startled, but it was enough for Vegeta to roll out and crouch at a safe distance. Blood began to pool at his feet from his chest wound, but stopped as he lunged forward to land as many hits as he could on Frieza.

The first few flew by unblocked, but Vegeta's wrists were soon seized and twisted as he was brought down to Frieza's knee and onto his chest. "You fucking monkey!" Frieza screeched and ruthlessly attacked Vegeta until he could barely move, all in the matter of seconds.

As Frieza began a new sequence of bone crushing moves on Vegeta, the hall's doors creaked open to a tiny alien, about the size of a 10 year old child, scurrying to the pair. "Lord Frieza!" it squeaked and lowered to its knee within 10 feet of the lizard. Holding the saiyan by his throat, Frieza stared and questioned angrily, "What do you want?"

The greyish alien shivered as he kept his eyes trained on the ground. "There was a malfunction in the control room," it said in its high voice after a few seconds.

"Then fix it," Frieza commanded as he turned back to Vegeta and grinned. Vegeta swung at his captor as he inhaled deeply to try and breathe. Frieza growled as the little alien tried to get his attention once again. "What are you still doing here?" he snarled.

Vegeta's vision began to fade, and the warmth of his blood oozing everywhere started to turn cold. He willed himself to stay conscious, but knew his body couldn't take anymore. The grey blob in his peripheral vision was speaking, but the thumping in his ears drowned out any sound aside from murmurs. He barely saw Frieza sigh, then turn back to him as the blob ran away, scared out of his mind at the lord. His evil purple lips were moving and then formed a sneer at the prince. Vegeta had no time to decipher the unspoken syllables as he was tossed into the wall again. This time, he decided not to get up -if he was able to- but watched Frieza and his cronies waltz away, finally giving in to the urge to sleep.

-----

As Frieza's entourage raced to the control room to fix the 'problem', one of the maintenance subordinates pressed against the wall to avoid being trampled. The blonde hair sticking out of the sides of his hat, similar to a toque with a bill, blew to the side as the men pushed by, almost causing a wind burn on his face. He turned to continue his path but bumped into a very large, green wall. The boy fell to the floor from the force and was pulled up by his shirt collar and pushed against the wall yet again. "You, boy," Zarbon said to his new victim. "Go put the saiyan scum into the regen tanks, or it'll be your head."

He quickly released the blonde and fell into the current towards the control room, following Frieza's retreating form. Chester readjusted his clothing and continued his path to the main conference room. "Where do you think I was going," he muttered, "To mess with some other piece of technology?" He picked up his pace as the grand doors , now open, came into to view and glanced around for his friend.

Chester gasped as he found the unconscious Vegeta lying twisted on the ground. "Oh shit," he exclaimed and raced to the bloodied body on the side of the room. "What did you get yourself into.." He fidgeted because of the many lacerations the saiyan had over his body, not knowing where an unpainful place to hold him up was. _Screw it, he's already out,_ Chester thought as he picked Vegeta up and placed him over his shoulder. A grunt of pain was heard from Vegeta as Chester began walking towards the medical ward, which was unfortunately quite a few minutes away. "Thankfully I grew a little stronger, you heavy thing," the blonde murmured to the lifeless man over his shoulder and continued his trek to find some help for Vegeta.

-----

Hours later, Chester awoke with a start at the beeping across the room. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes and glanced at the glass window of the regen tank. The green liquid stirred inside the metal container as Vegeta began to move around and wake himself up. The blonde rose with a groan and turned the regeneration process off, letting the liquid drain and hoping Vegeta was still a little bit in pain. "I hope you can finally learn from this, you idiot," he said to himself as Vegeta groggily moved out of the tank, leaning against the control board to give him some room.

Vegeta stretched his sore muscles and winced at the slight strain in them. "Tank must be malfuntioning," he mumbled as searched for a change of clothes.

"It's not malfunctioning, I _hope_ you're still sore," the blonde behind him stated. Vegeta whipped around at the new presence with a beam in his hand.

"What are you doing in here..." he questioned, still a little hazy from the forced sleep.

"Excuse me?!" Chester snarled, "I just saved your ass for one thing! I havent seen you in almost a year, and all you can say to me is 'what are you doing in here?' Are you seriously _that_ out of it?!"

Vegeta disintegrated the ball and studied the man across the room. "Chester?" he asked quietly.

"Who else would be stupid enough to help you? Santa Claus?"

Vegeta sighed as he started to search for clothing again, his wet ones becoming itchy. "Well excuse me, I just woke up, so don't blame me for..." He paused his movement, then spun around to glare at Chester. "What the hell are you doing here? You should be back on Earth by now! I gave you so much time to leave! Or did you get captured too," he ended quietly, waiting for a reply.

"No, I wasn't captured," Chester responded and threw a clean uniform to his friend. Vegeta caught it one-handed and awaited for another explanation of his presence in Frieza's base, which Chester should know he'd want to ask. "Change and I'll explain, I know you're _itching_ to," he joked and began to slowly pace, avoiding the glare Vegeta was throwing at him.

"Where to begin... Maybe where you decided to sacrifice yourself to save me (thank you for the thought by the way, it made me all warm inside that you cared)." Chester easily dodged a shoe thrown at his head and continued, "ANYways, after you left, I thought there was no way in hell that I'd leave you to die after you brought me into outer space. So, with the lovely map you gave me, which I almost lost in the snow, I had made my way back to the space pods to find you. It took a fuckin long time, I was pretty dehydrated but I made it."

Vegeta, who had made a comfy seat on the table on his side of the small room, shushed Chester and briskly walked to the closed door. He leaned his ear against the metal and listened intently. "What it is," Chester whispered.

For a few moments neither of them moved. Vegeta backed from the door to open it and walked out, motioning for Chester to follow him, which he did without a second thought. After watching the dark haired prince sneak around corners and look over his shoulder occasionally, Chester questioned, "Are we being followed?"

"No," Vegeta answered hurriedly, "We could be caught though. With your clothes.." which he glanced at quickly, "...I'm guessing you're a servant or something, which wouldn't be good for either of us to be conversing." Without another word for the rest of the trip, Chester followed Vegeta to what they hoped be a secure location, avoiding all guards and elite minions, and technicians from the advice of Chester.

Minutes and a few floors up later, Vegeta led the blonde into his room, which he debugged almost daily until Frieza's techies gave up on him, and from a bit of unknown persuasion and rebellion from Chester. Vegeta locked the doors and scanned the area, finally plopping down on the lumpy couch on the side of his room. Chester studied the room, "I thought you were an elite soldier."

"What's that supposed to mean," Vegeta questioned warily with a raised eyebrow.

Chester sat down beside him, but far enough to jump out of Vegeta lunge if he decided to attack Chester for any given reason. _You never know.._ "It's not supposed to _mean_ anything, It's just, this is barely better than what I have."

The room was pretty dull. With Vegeta out so often, the grey walls and rugged furniture looked barely used, and had no personal touch to it. There was a single bed off to the side, a metal dresser for uniforms that were probably the exact same, as were everyone elses in the base, the maybe 3-man couch the duo was sitting on and a small coffee table that Vegeta decided to use as an ottoman. Beide them was a closed doorway, most likely to a small personal bathroom. But that was it.

Vegeta shrugged, "It's all I need. And just because I'm elite doesn't mean I get the best stuff around here; that's only people like Zarbon and of course Frieza." Vegeta turned to his old friend, "Continue. How did you get into Frieza's maintenance?"

Chester leaned back and dramaticaly began, with an eye roll from Vegeta, "Well, it all started after I found Frieza's home base. I knew you'd be brought there eventually, so I tried to fit in the best I could. I found a job with the techies, and I must say I think I'm getting very good at it."

The prince chuckled. He said, "The last time I saw you with technology, it turned out horrible." In his mind though, Vegeta couldn't remember that last time, or anything else from his past life. He knew main events, the murders he committed on Earth, but details were extremely fuzzy now, especially with everything that Frieza had filled his head with, everything he had been trying to deny.

A snicker from Chester brought Vegeta out of his thoughts for a moment. "Don't believe me?" he asked, to which Vegeta eyed him. "Who do you think re-encrypted his purge system so you wouldn't get beaten near death again?"

Vegeta's wide eyes made Chester's pride swell; he had finally proved that he wasn't useless to Vegeta's judgement. "I know, I'm awesome," Chester commented. Vegeta shook his head at Chester's ego, almost as big as his own actually

"Well, as you can see now, I'm fine," Vegeta stated as he leaned back on the couch, hoping to sleep a bit more to regain strength that Chester had unknowingly drained from him. "You can go home and live normally again."

"I'm not leaving, are you kidding? Look what they've turned you into Vegeta," Chester exclaimed. He jumped closer to the saiyan, startlinghim slightly. "I've even figured a few things out being at the bottom for a year. You can hear anything if people aren't paying attention to your existence. Like did you know-"

"I don't care what you've found out Ches, you're not meant to be here," Vegeta interrupted, "I haven't turned into anything either, other than what I was meant to be."

"A killer?!"

"I was born into THIS world, not meant to live a life on earth!"

"So you'd prefer to live in a world where you fear for your life, where you get beaten for crossing a _small_ line in Frieza's head, and where you're an emotionless killer?" Chester sighed and moved back to his side of the couch. Vegeta moved to speak, but was cut off. "I'm not leaving you Veg, you need help here at least."

In an instant, the blonde moved from the couch to being held on the wall behind the sofa on a vice grip. He began coughing as Vegeta held him still. "I've been holding this off for a while, but I remember telling you if I saw you back here I'd kill you," he muttered darkly. "I can force you to leave too, you know. It won't be as comfortable though."

"Veg," Chester gasped, "I can't breathe."

"No shit," he growled.

"Look at you, you're choking the only person left that even gives a shit about you out here," Chester struggled out, "It's Frieza's doing, I know it is." Vegeta loosened his grip a little to give Chester some air to talk, if that's what he wanted to do. "Vegeta please, let me help you. You're not evil.."

Chester was dropped to the sofa as Vegeta suddenly let go and backed away. He inhaled deeply and clutched his throat to hold himself up. "That is insane strength," he rasped out after a few minutes. The blonde glanced up after he could breathe normally again to see Vegeta on his knees near the end of the bed. "Vegeta?" he asked, "Are you alright?"

"No," was his reply with downcast eyes. "Chester, I think I need your help."

Chester walked over to kneel beside Vegeta, and pulled him into a slight hug. He was thankful Vegeta pushed him off, but not too hard; he hadn't completely broke down at least. "You're almost back to normal," Chester laughed. "Now to get that shit out of your system."


End file.
